


All that Remains

by ExtremeLight9



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Depressing Thoughts, Feels, Female Chara (Undertale), Female Frisk, Fluff and Angst, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, My first undertale fanfiction, Self-Esteem Issues, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 00:36:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 48,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9355064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtremeLight9/pseuds/ExtremeLight9
Summary: What if Frisk absorbed Asgore's soul and used it to cross the barrier?





	1. Glitch

Frisk panted as she pressed her hand against the wall, hoping to see any sign of an exit soon. The air inside the tunnel was heavy and the dark made it her harder for eyes to see, but she didn’t stop. She kept walking until finally she saw something. A light. There was a light up ahead!

 

Without a second thought, the child scrambled towards the light and stepped through. It was so bright at first that Frisk had to cover her eyes before taking in the sight.

 

The sun was just setting on the horizon and the sky was a bright shade of orange. The sunlight was warm on her skin and the fresh air wafted on her face. Frisk thought she would never get to experience these things ever again.

 

She glanced at her surroundings. Nothing changed at all. Everything looked exactly like it was when Frisk first came here. It had been only a few days, but it felt like forever ago.

 

But Frisk didn’t feel happy about being back. She couldn’t be as the weight of the dusty knife in her hand reminded her of what transpired earlier, of the fight she had with king of all monsters.

 

Whatever had been fueling Frisk through the entire battle had finally worn off and she realized what she done.

 

She had…..killed someone.

 

Frisk felt her mouth go dry and her hands shook. It wasn’t her fault. He had attacked her first and she was just defending herself.

 

Then again, at end of the battle he had been on his knee, completely powerless. There was no way he could’ve hurt her. She had no idea what came over her back then.

 

If she closed her eyes she could remember the resigned look in his eyes, the way he smiled as he turned to dust and-

 

The knife finally slipped from Frisk’s trembling hand and her shoulders shook as tears began welling up in her eyes. _I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it._ _I’m so sorry._

 

The child found herself curling up on the ground and cried.

 

**\-------**

 

Consciousness slowly came to him.

His was vision was blurry and his head was filled with dense fog. The first thing he became aware of was the fact he was not back in his house. He was on the ledge of a cliff and everything felt strangely….light.

 

Blinking through his dimmed vision, he suddenly caught sight of something that made his eyes go wide.

 

The sun.

 

It’s been centuries since the last time Asgore had seen the sun and he almost forgotten how captivating the sight of it was.

 

Asgore brought his hand to his forehead as he tried to recall what happened and how did he ended up here, but his mind was still foggy for some reason.

 

That’s when he noticed something. Asgore brought his hand to his face to see that it was transparent, no longer solid. He could almost see right through it. The same could be said for the rest of his body.

 

 _Is….is this a dream?_ Asgore thought to himself. It must to be a dream. It’s the only explanation for this that made sense.

 

Suddenly, Asgore heard a soft whimper. He turned around and was surprised to see he was not alone here. A small child was crying into the sleeves of her sweater, her small body was trembling violently.

 

Frowning in worry, Asgore began approaching her. As he drew closer, the king couldn’t shake the feeling that he should know this kid. Something about her blue and purple striped sweater felt familiar somehow.

 

“Um…Hello?” Asgore said awkwardly. She gasped and looked up at him, her expression one of terror.

 

Asgore’s eyes widen once he recognized her face. The seventh human. The fog that clouded his mind slowly dispersed and everything clicked in his head.

 

Before he could think of anything to say she had gone several shades paler and she let out a terrified scream.

 

Frisk tried to get away, but it was like her legs were refusing to be legs and she fell to the ground. She covered her head and started shaking again. “N-No, please!” she wailed.

 

Asgore felt his soul ache at the sight and the fact that he’s the one who caused this fear made him feel worse, but he couldn’t blame her for being scared of him.

 

 Unsure of what to do, he slowly approached the girl so he wouldn’t startle her further and knelt down. “Hey, calm down. Don’t be afraid,” he said, making sure to keep his voice as gentle as possible, but the child curled up even harder.

 

“S-Stay back,” she stammered in fear.

 

“It’s okay,” Asgore slowly reached out and the child winced as if expecting unimaginable pain to come. He tried placing his hand on her shoulder, but to his dismay, it kept slipping right through so he settled with keeping it hovering over her shoulder, but not quite touching it.

 

Asgore waited patiently until the child finally stopped shaking and peeked up at him in confusion, her eyes wet. “See? I’m not going to hurt you,” He stated, giving her a reassuring smile. The child looked conflicted at him.

 

Another idea came to the goat monster. “What is your name, child?” he asked softly. She mumbled something he didn’t quite hear. “Sorry, could you repeat that?”

 

“F-Frisk,” she answered hesitantly, whipping her eyes.

 

“Frisk? That’s a lovely name,” Asgore muttered. “My name is Asgore, but…you probably know that by now,” he chuckled awkwardly.

 

Frisk looked up at him seriously. “How come you’re here after I….” she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

 

Asgore sighed gravely. “I believe it might have something to do with you absorbing my soul. A human absorbing a monster’s soul has never happened before. We…I never knew what could come from such an act. I’m sorry,”

 

“So…..are we stuck like this now?” she asked after a while, tilting her head.

 

“I guess,” he said and stood up, staring at the exit to the Underground dejectedly. His friends and family were still down there and he already came to the conclusion that he might never get to see them again. He hoped that they’ll be alright, that someone would take charge and keep everyone safe.

 

Sighing, Asgore looked up to the sky only to realize that it was getting dark. He quickly moved towards the ledge again and looked down below.

 

Frisk stood up and walked over to him. “What are you doing?” she asked curiously.

 

Asgore’s eyes searched the forest for a moment until he spotted a small town not too far from where they were. “Ah-ha!” he glanced down at Frisk. “Alright, let’s go,”

 

Frisk blinked in confusion. “Go where?”

 

“To the town, of course. It’s getting late and we need to get you back to the other humans,” he explained. If he was going to stay with this child, then the least he could do is make sure she got back home safely. Maybe then he’d make up for what he had put her through.

 

“Oh, r-right,” Frisk said hesitantly and began making her way down the mountain. Asgore glanced at the cave one last time before following the human.

 

\-------

 

Frisk’s chest grew heavier with every step she took. Her mind kept drifting back to the monsters she met on her journey through the Underground, all the great friends she made.

 

The ones that she might never see again.

 

Was this really it? After everything that happened, was she just going to leave them behind in that prison? Frisk had wanted to help the monsters, but all she did was take their king from them.

 

Frisk bit her lip and took out her phone, staring blankly at the screen. Her finger hovered over the button, but she couldn’t bring herself to call. What could she say? That it was her fault that their king is gone? That she was free now while they were still trapped down there?

 

“Frisk, are you alright?”

 

Frisk’s head whipped up to see the monster king staring down at her in concern.

 

“I’m fine,” she said and forced a smile.

 

Asgore just smiled back and looked up ahead. “Don’t worry, we should be at the town soon.” He stated, assuming she was just afraid of the dark.

 

Frisk watched him float ahead of her a little and then glanced down at her phone.

 

 _Maybe…..Maybe there was something I could’ve done differently. Maybe I could’ve helped them somehow._  

 

The more she thought about it, the guiltier she felt. Frisk sighed and murmured. “I wish I could do it all over again,”

 

And just like that, the world came to a halt.

  

“Huh?” Frisk blinked, looking around in confusion. Time just….stopped. It was like the whole world was holding its breath waiting for this moment to unfold.

 

 _What’s going on!?_ Frisk panicked and glanced at Asgore only to see, much to her shock that he was frozen too.

 

**_Bing_ **

 

 Frisk jumped back at the loud noise and turned around to see the huge glowing letters before her.

  

**_RESET?_ **

  

The button stood there glowing innocently almost as if it’s beckoning her to come closer. Frisk frowned and approached it, curiously.

 

Could this be what she thinks it is?

 

Frisk knew about the weird power she had and the Save Points, but she didn’t think it included something as drastic as this!

 

Could she really just…..go back?

 

The child stared at the button, unsure of what to do now. She weighted her options. She could press the button and see what it does or dismiss it and continue on with her life on the surface.

 

But what if this was her chance to fix everything? What if she could go back and set things right this time?

 

Frisk didn’t want to waste this chance. She could end up regretting it later. Having her mind made up, Frisk reached forward and pressed the button.

 

Suddenly, the button started glitching and static-like sound filled the air. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Frisk back away and clutched her head as her vision blurred.

 

For a while, all she could hear was static.

 

**\--------**

 

Frisk woke up with a gasp. Blinking, she gazed around to see she was lying on a bed of golden flowers. Her body was sore and she winced in pain.

 

Frisk subconsciously rubbed her cheek and gasped. The old bandage she had when she first came here, it was back!

 

Frisk felt relief fill her. It worked!  She was sent back to the very beginning of her journey. Now she could do it all over again and avoid hurting anybody.

 

Grinning a little in excitement, Frisk carefully stood up and began making her way through the tunnel. She couldn’t help feeling uneasy though knowing what was waiting for her behind the archway.

 

Steeling herself, Frisk entered the room to find-

 

Nothing.

 

Frisk blinked at the empty patch of grass in front of her, wondering where a certain flower had gone. She thought for sure he would be here again. Did she arrive a little early?

 

Deciding not to dwell on it, Frisk shrugged and was about to move forward, but then gasped when a thick vine shot from the ground and twisted around her ankles. She wobbled and her chin grazed the ground hard.

 

Panicking, Frisk began to struggle, trying to get the vines off, but more appeared and wrapped around her hands, rooting her to the spot.

 

“You **_idiot!_** ”

 

Frisk flinched at the harsh tone and looked up to see the angry face of Flowey glaring down at her.

 

“I was so _close_ , I could’ve finally had them and then you ruined everything!” he snarled and Frisk cried out as the vines wrapped themselves tighter and tighter around her ankles and arms.

 

“Let me go!” she muttered.

 

“After what you just did? Forget it!” Flowey snapped. “You wasted everything I planned for and guess what idiot…” Flowey’s face began to melt and his eyes became black voids.

 

 **“You’re gonna die for that,”** he said maliciously, his voice taking on a deep demonic tone. Friendliness pellets materialized in the air and he aimed them at her.

 

Frisk struggled and thrashed as much as she could, but couldn’t get away. She was trapped. There was no escape.

 

Fear and dread filling her heart, Frisk cried. “H-Help!”

 

Suddenly, the vines that were trapping her burst into flames and Flowey let out a pained yelp before he quickly ducked into the ground.

 

Frisk immediately started removing the rest of the vines and sighed in relief. “Thanks, I really appreciate-” Frisk turned to greet Toriel, but stopped when she didn’t see her anywhere.

 

Where did the fire come from then?

 

Beyond confused, she looked around and called out. “Hello?”

 

“Frisk?”

 

Frisk froze and her breathing hitched at the familiar voice. Slowly, she turned around to see the ghost of the monster king staring back at her in puzzlement.

 

“What happened?” he asked.


	2. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the great comments and kudos. I really appreciate it!

Frisk took a step back as she stared at the floating specter in front of her in disbelieve, her mind unable to process what she was seeing. She quickly rubbed her eyes, then looked again. No, he’s still there. She wasn’t imagining this!

 

 _But how!? Everything had been RESET!_ Frisk thought, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

 

“Where are we?” Asgore asked as he looked around the cavern in confusion. One moment they were near the human town and then the next thing he knew they were here…..wherever this was. He gazed at the purple walls and crumbled pillars, a nagging feeling at the back of his mind. 

 

It soon dawned the king why this place looked so familiar to him and his eyes widen slightly in alarm. “Wait we’re….we’re in the Ruins, but how did we get here?” he muttered, turning to the child for answers who stiffened immediately.

 

Frisk opened her mouth and closed it, not knowing what to say, but she was saved from that by a new voice in the room.

 

“Hello?” the two turned to see the former queen of the Underground enter the room. Once she caught sight of them, she gasped and rushed towards them.

 

“T-Tori?” Asgore stuttered, wide eyed. He couldn’t believe it. After so many years his wife was actually here. A huge relieved smile stretched across his face. “Tori, it really is you! I-” he started to say, but was cut off as Toriel walked right through him.

 

Asgore stood there stunned by this for a moment before turning around to see his wife heading towards the child instead.

 

“Tori?” he murmured, but she continued on as if she didn’t hear him.

 

“Are you alright, child?” Toriel asked as she knelt down in front of Frisk, her eyes searching for any kind of injury.

 

Frisk glanced at the king in concern before answering her. “Y-Yeah, I’m okay,”

 

“Are you sure? I thought I heard a scream coming from here,” she stated and Frisk nodded.

 

The goat woman sighed in relief and stood up. “Well, I’m glad to hear that. I’m Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass here every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time.”

 

Frisk frowned. Those were the exact same lines Toriel had used when they first met and that only confirmed it. Toriel doesn’t remember her. Everything was back to the way it used to be.

 

So then why is the monster king still here with her?

 

This is was so confusing!

  

“Child?”

 

“Huh? Oh, I’m Frisk!” the child managed to smile and held her hand out to the goat woman. Toriel smiled back and shook the tiny hand with her much larger paw.

 

Frisk recalled being slightly apprehensive of Toriel thanks to her encounter with the demonic flower, but now she knew there was no need for that.

 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Frisk. Now, how about I lead you through the catacomb. You’ll be much safer in my house.” She stated and Frisk nodded again. With that, Toriel turned around and left the room.

 

Frisk was about to follow her, but then stopped and looked back to see the king was looking at the ground with a crestfallen look on his face. “Hey,” She stuck out her hand and motioned for him to come along.

 

Asgore blinked and then smiled a little before floating after her.

 

Frisk then entered the next room with red leaves on the ground to see Toriel ascending the stairs without her, having raised her robe so she won’t trip over her steps. Frisk hurried towards the other staircase and to the top, waiting for Toriel with an eager grin to which the goat woman responded with a light chuckle.

 

Asgore stood beside the girl. “Frisk. What’s happening? How did we get back here?” he asked again. He could tell from how comfortable Frisk acted around Toriel that they had met before so then why his wife doesn’t seem to remember the child?

 

Frisk bit her lip and whispered back. “I’ll tell you later,”

 

“Did you say something, my child?”

 

The two stiffened under Toriel’s questioning gaze.

 

“N-No!” Frisk muttered, frantically shaking her head. The lady raised an eyebrow, but didn’t ask any more questions. Instead she led the child to the room where the first puzzle was and began explaining how things worked in the Ruins.

 

While she was listening to the goat woman, Frisk felt unfamiliar tingly sensation pull at her soul. She glanced back, trying to see where it was coming from, but there was nothing there.

 

Toriel noticed this and cleared her throat. “My child, I know this is probably a lot to take in, but please try to pay attention. It’s for your own good.” She said softly.

 

“Sorry,” Frisk replied sheepishly.

 

“It’s alright,” Toriel smiled and decided it was time to move on to the next room.

 

Soon after going through some more puzzles, Toriel had asked Frisk to wait for her in a room while she ran some errands.

 

“Don’t worry, I will be back soon. Be good, my child.” She said before leaving.

 

Asgore watched his wife until she disappeared around the corner and felt a dull ache in his chest. He was glad to see her again, he really was. He just wished he could talk to her right now.

 

He knew she might not be entirely pleased to see him again. The last time they had spoken she had been furious with him, but being ignored like this was even worse.

 

It was then Asgore noticed movement at the corner of his eye and looked over to see Frisk walking down the hallway. “Frisk, where are you going? Toriel asked you to wait here,”

 

“I’m just going to look around a little,” she said, but there was a mischievous glint in her eyes.

 

Asgore frowned disapprovingly. “Frisk….”

 

“I’m gonna be fine! I’ve been here before, remember?” she stated with a shrug and before he could say anything else she hurried down the hallway. Sighing, Asgore followed the kid.

 

Frisk didn’t manage to get far when she felt the phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and answered. “Hello?”

 

 _“Hello, this is Toriel. You have not left the room, have you?”_ she asked.

 

“Uh…..no?” Frisk said and could almost feel Asgore’s disapproving gaze on the back of her head.

 

_“Good. Now, for no particular reason, which do you prefer, cinnamon or butterscotch?”_

 

“Butterscotch,” Frisk muttered.

 

“Oh, alright. Thank you!” Toriel said before hanging up. Not a second later she had called again asking if Frisk didn’t dislike cinnamon.

 

“No, cinnamon is fine too.” Frisk assured her.

 

“Okay, thank you for being patient!” Toriel said before hanging up. Asgore smiled, having a small inkling on what she was planning.

 

As the two wandered through the Ruins, Asgore tried interacting with some of the monsters they came across, but so far none of them could see or hear him no matter how loud he spoke.

 

“Hello?” Asgore muttered as he stared down at the Froggit. The tiny monster didn’t react to his voice and simply let out a tired croak before hopping away.

 

Asgore sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Nothing he did managed to get others to notice him. He tried talking them, tried touching them. He even once stood in front of a magical attack to see what would happen, but it just passed right through him.

 

If it weren’t for the fact that Frisk could see him then he would’ve lost his mind. Speaking of Frisk, he glanced back to see her pick something up from the ground, a faded red ribbon.

 

She carefully tied it in her hair before presenting herself to him. “What do you think?”

 

Asgore couldn’t help smiling at her. “You look lovely, child.”

 

Frisk blushed and looked away bashfully, making him chuckle lightly. Flustered, she turned around and began walking down the path again only to jump back with a yelp when something popped out of the dirt. She glanced down and saw it was a Vegetoid, eyeing her curiously.

 

She backed away and quickly patted her stomach, watching it bounce excitedly for a moment before shooting some projectiles at her along with a carrot.

 

Frisk swiftly dodged the monster’s attacks and reached for the carrot, taking a bite from it. The Vegetoid looked satisfied and buried itself into the ground again.

 

“Well done, Frisk.” Asgore muttered. The child beamed at the praise and then headed towards the stairs.

 

It was then she felt a shiver run through her, like a pair of eyes watching her from behind, but when she looked back to the room, nobody was there.

 

“Frisk?” Asgore called out.

 

“C-Coming!” Frisk exclaimed and hurried up the stairs. Putting that incident behind her, she continued her trek through the Ruins with Asgore giving her tips whenever she found herself struggling with something.

 

Eventually, they made it to the end of the Ruins where Toriel’s house was.

 

**\--------**

 

As soon as Toriel left her alone, Frisk went inside her bedroom. She took off her boots and placed her phone on the nightstand before collapsing on the bed in exhaustion. Asgore gave the child a sympathetic smile before looking around the room.

 

Going back to his old house wasn’t easy for him. It brought back a lot of memories he would rather not think about, memories of times filled with childish laughter, drawings of flowers and the smell of freshly baked pies-

 

Asgore quickly shook his head before he could dwell on those thoughts any longer. Now wasn’t the time for that. He should be trying to figure out their situation instead.

 

With that in mind, the old king rubbed his chin, going back on everything Frisk told him on their way here. She was vague with the details, but according to her they somehow went back in time and this was the day she first came to the Underground.

 

He didn’t believe it at first. It just sounded absurd and he assumed she was joking, but he couldn’t deny how Frisk always seemed to know what to do and yet no one remembered her.

 

 _So what caused it then?_ Asgore’s first thought was it might have something to do with Frisk since it happened after she crossed the barrier, but he quickly dismissed that. It would make more sense if it was related to the barrier itself than the child.

 

Maybe the human mages who created the barrier wanted to make sure that no one leaves the Underground so they added this side effect to keep anyone from ever escaping. He wouldn’t put it past them to do such a cruel thing.

 

Asgore was snapped from his thoughts at the sound of shallow breathing and looked over to see Frisk had already fallen asleep. He smiled softly at this and then vanished.

 


	3. Changes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry this took a while. I was busy with college and didn't have the time to finish it. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Asgore sighed as he floated through the hallway of his old house for what felt like the hundredth time. He had been wandering these rooms for hours, not knowing what to do. There was nothing he could do to pass the time.

 

He didn’t sleep or eat anymore. He couldn’t distract himself with work or tend to his garden like he usually did. When he tried reading one of Toriel’s books his hand went right through it.

 

He even tried going outside once, but as soon as he came near the door he felt something preventing him from leaving, like an unseen tether keeping him inside the house.

 

He never realized how much he relied on Frisk for company until now. She had been the only person he could talk to since he woke up like this, but now that she was asleep and the house was dark and silent Asgore felt utterly alone.

 

He found himself wishing morning would come soon.

 

A door suddenly opened and light poured into the dark hallway, making Asgore yelp in surprise, but then relaxed after seeing it was Toriel. She let out a soft yawn as she made her way to the kitchen. After a few minutes of clattering sounds, she came back with a slice of pie on a plate.

 

Raising an eyebrow at this, Asgore followed her inside Frisk’s bedroom to see her place the plate on the floor. She suddenly glanced at the child with a slight frown and went over to pull the covers over her. With that, Asgore watched her leave the room and closed the door behind her.

 

Asgore sighed as the room fell silent again. Just when he was about to leave, he heard a soft grunt coming from behind him. He looked back to see Frisk finally waking up. Sighing in relief, he floated towards the child and smiled.

 

“Good morning, Frisk. I hope you rested well…I...” Asgore trailed off when he noticed something slightly off about the child in front of him.

 

Frisk stopped rubbing her eyes and looked up at him. “What?”

  

Asgore blinked and leaned down to get a better look at her. “Frisk, what did you do to your hair?”

 

Confused, Frisk went over to the mirror to see what he was talking about. She took one look at her reflection and nearly shrieked if she hadn’t closed her mouth in time.

 

White.

 

A strand of hair on her forehead had turned white.

 

She slowly reached for the strand and pulled at it, wincing immediately in pain. “How did this happen!?” Frisk muttered in panic, backing away from the mirror.

 

“You mean this isn’t normal for humans?” the king asked and Frisk was reminded again of how little did monsters know about humans.

 

Most of the monsters in the underground didn’t even know what a human looked like, let alone anything about them. She assumed spending centuries apart would do that. After all, everyone on the surface thought that monsters were nothing more than a story.

 

“N-No, it’s not,” Frisk answered shakily as she tried to swallow her panic and make sense of what’s happening to her. Nothing like this happened in the first timeline. Could it be a side effect from having another soul inside of her?

 

“Do you feel alright?” Asgore asked, concerned.

 

Frisk thought about it. Well, she did feel a little light-headed, but other than that she didn’t feel much different from last night.

 

“I’m fine,” Frisk said. Maybe this wasn’t anything bad or worth worrying about. She glanced back at the mirror and grimaced. Though it might take her a while to get used to seeing herself like this. Asgore looked like he wanted to ask more, but decided against it.

 

Frisk suddenly remembered the pie in the center of the room and went to pick it up, sitting on the bed again and wasting no time scarfing it down.

 

Once she was done eating her pie, the two left bedroom and headed to the living room to find Toriel sitting on her chair, reading glasses perched on her nose. She smiled warmly when she spotted her coming.

 

“Hello child, did you rest well?” she asked and Frisk nodded as she sat crossed-legged on the floor in front of her. Toriel’s eyebrows ceased slightly and Frisk knew she noticed what happened to her hair, but the goat didn’t comment on it.

 

“I’m so glad to you have you here Frisk. There are so many old books I want to share!” she said excitedly.

 

Asgore glanced around the room. Toriel didn’t seem to have changed anything about their old home. Most of the things he remembered where exactly where they left them.

 

For a moment he was reminded of a time where Toriel was reading a book next to the fireplace with two children sitting on the floor listening to her with wide eyes and it brought a sad smile to his face.

 

“I want to show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I also prepared a curriculum for your education.” She continued and it was then the king noticed the change in Frisk’s expression. He could tell she was upset about something. Her discomfort seemed to increase the more Toriel talked.  

 

Asgore frowned in confusion, wondering what could be troubling the child. Nothing Toriel was saying sounded unpleasant to him.

 

“…still, I am glad to have you living here.” Toriel stated softly. Frisk finally sat up and walked over to the woman, pulling at the bottom of her dress. “Oh, do you want something?”

 

Asgore glanced down at Frisk, waiting for her to answer. She hesitated for a moment before speaking.

 

“When can I go home?” she asked.

 

Asgore’s eyes widen and looked over to see Toriel just as surprised. The goat woman blinked as she tried processing the question. “W-What? My child, this…this _is_ your home now,” she stuttered.

 

For a moment Asgore thought he saw something almost pained in the child’s expression.

 

Toriel quickly grabbed the book in her lap and showed it to Frisk. “Here, would you like to hear about the book I’m reading? It’s called 72 Uses for Snails.” There was hint of desperation in her voice.  

 

“Toriel, where is the exit to the Ruins?” Frisk asked her again, more firmly this time. Asgore could feel the tension in the room rising. Toriel simply stared at the child for a moment before sighing and closing the book.

 

“I have something to do. Stay here,” Was all she said before leaving the room.

 

“She looked upset,” Asgore stated after a moment. “Do you think she’ll be alright?” he asked the child.

 

Frisk didn’t answer him and instead started walking after Toriel. “Come on!”

 

Asgore bit his lip and followed Frisk all the way down the stairs. As the two of them made their way through the dark corridor Asgore found himself wondering what Toriel was doing here. It wasn’t long until they caught up to her. The goat woman stopped in her tracks at the sound of footsteps behind her.

 

“So, you want to go ‘Home’, do you not?” Toriel finally spoke, her voice cold and emotionless sending a shiver down Asgore’s spine. “Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the Underground.” Asgore raised an eyebrow, unsure of where she was going with this.

 

“I’m going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again.” She said and Asgore’s eyes widen.

 

But why!?

 

“Now be a good child and go to your room.” Toriel said and began walking away. Frisk didn’t listen and hurried after the woman down the corridor with the king flying besides her.

 

**\-----------**

It went down just as before.

Frisk yelped and quickly moved out of the way as a fireball was sent towards her. “Toriel, stop it!” she pleaded.

 

Toriel remained eyes were empty and harsh. She didn’t hesitate in charging another attack. This one almost grazed Frisk’s side and she felt the heat radiating from it. “I don’t want to fight you!”

 

Keeping up the emotionless mask, Toriel continued sending wave after wave of fireballs towards the child until something weird happened. The fireball she sent exploded just before reaching Frisk.

 

Blinking in confusion, Toriel tried sending more fireballs, but somehow they kept blowing up whenever they came near her.

 

“How are you doing this?” Toriel asked baffled.

 

“Uh…..humans magic?” Frisk answered nervously.

 

Toriel shook off the shock and growled. “Runaway or fight!”

 

Frisk frantically shook her head.

 

Growing frustrated, the goat monster summoned up several fireballs in her hands and hurled them all at the girl at once.

 

Frisk gasped and jumped into the middle to avoid getting burned by them. The air in the corridor was starting to smell of ash and brimstone.

 

Suddenly, a fireball bounce off the wall and before either of them could react it slammed against Frisk’s soul head-on. Frisk felt the wind being knocked out of her as she landed on the floor with a pained grunt.

 

The world was spinning around Frisk and her soul swelled in pain. For several seconds she lay on the hard floor, her body wanting to stop functioning all together. She slowly looked up to see Toriel holding a paw over her mouth in shock.

 

Gritting her teeth, Frisk managed to stand up, her legs shaking slightly. Tears were forming in her eyes from the searing pain in her soul, but she still refused to back away.

 

“W-What are you doing? Fight back!” Toriel demanded, her voice wavering.

 

“You taught me not to use violence to solve my problems.” Frisk replied.

 

Through her blurry vision, Frisk could see the monster’s aloof facade slowly cracking.

 

**\----------**

 

In the end, saying goodbye again hadn’t been easy.

 

Frisk made her way down the corridor, her hair messy and a part of her sweater was slightly signed from the flames, but any other injury she had sustained had been healed by Toriel. They weren’t as bad as the first timeline since Asgore had been blocking most of the attacks with his own magic.

 

Frisk liked Toriel and enjoyed spending time with her, but the goat monster wanted Frisk to stay with her forever. The child knew she’d go mad if she spent her whole life inside a house with nobody, but Toriel and Asgore for company. Speaking of which…..

 

Frisk looked up at Asgore who floating quietly beside her. He hadn’t said anything ever since they left and it made the child uneasy.

 

“Hey, uh, Asgore?”

 

The monster stopped and looked down at her. “Yes?”

 

“Is everything okay? You’ve been really quiet since we left.” She asked.

 

 “Oh, nothing. I…I just have a lot on my mind. Don’t worry,” he said with a smile, but Frisk could tell it was forced.

 

She wondered what could be bothering the large monster. Was he upset with her for leaving Toriel and the Ruins? Maybe he had wanted to stay there a little longer. Frisk hadn’t really considered that before leaving and guilt twisted in her stomach.

 

Well, there was no in point in turning around now. Toriel had asked her to never come back.  

 

Soon enough, Frisk reached an archway and entered a new room with a green patch of grass and light beaming down from above.

 

“I see you’re _still_ trying to play nice,”

 

Frisk immediately jerked back at the angry voice. Asgore followed the child’s gaze and grimaced at the sight of that horrible flower again.  

 

Flowey sunk into the ground and just when Frisk was hoping the flower had left, he popped out of the ground in front of her, making her gasp and take a step back.

 

Flowey paused and his scowl slowly melted into a confused frown. It took Frisk a moment to realize he was staring at her hair and then back to her, his eyes almost searching through her.

 

A huge, unnerving smile stretched across his face, making Frisk’s breathing hitch. “How interesting.” He said excitedly. “Well, I shouldn’t keep you waiting. Good luck, kid. Don’t disappoint!” The last part was hissed through gritted teeth before he sunk into the grass again.  

 

Frisk gulped and her heart raced in panic. Did Flowey figure it out? Did he know she had a monster’s soul inside of her!? Frisk hoped not. She didn’t want to imagine what that impish flower would do with that kind of knowledge.

 

Not wanting to risk waiting for Flowey to come back, Frisk hurried towards the exit. She touched the front of the door and immediately shivered. She exchanged a glance with the king before pushing the door open and was hit with chilling wind


	4. Anomaly in Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the feedback. Enjoy!

**“human….don’t you know how to greet a new pal?** **turn around and shake my hand.”**

Frisk stiffened, something about his tone almost made her flinch. Still, she turned around and shook his boney hand, letting out a giggle at the rude noise coming out of the whoopee cushion, but when she looked up at the skeleton the laugh died down in her throat as she found herself staring at empty eye sockets.

 

Frisk could almost feel the temperature around them somehow drop even further and something within her soul shuddered at the sight of those dark endless voids.

 

And then it was gone. He blinked and his eyes returned to normal. “sorry about that, kid. I’m sans, sans the skeleton.” He said causally as if nothing happened.

 

Frisk frowned, unsure of what to make of what she just saw. Swallowing back her uneasiness, the child smiled a little at the monster. “I’m Frisk,”

 

“cool. so, you’re a human, right? that’s hilarious. I’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans,” Sans let out a sigh. “but….y’know….I don’t really care about capturing anybody.” he stated, stuffing his hands in his jacket’s pockets. “now my brother papyrus, he’s a human-hunting _fanatic_. Hey, actually, I think that’s him over there.”

 

He pointed past her to a tall figure in the distance. “I have an idea, go through this gate thingy. yeah, go right through, my bro made the bars too wide to stop anybody.”

 

Frisk turned towards the path and walked through the gate with Sans following her closely. The two stopped when they got near the sentry stand.

 

“quick, hide behind that conveniently-shaped lamp!” he muttered at the sound of approaching footsteps. Frisk nodded and hurried towards the lamp, but then her foot sunk into the snow and she found herself falling face-first into the white power.

 

“Frisk, are you alright?” Asgore asked, concerned.

 

Frisk squeaked as she sat up, the snow stinging her face and she quickly whipped it off, shivering violently.

 

“Kid, you okay over there?” Sans called out from his spot. Just as she was about to respond a loud voice interrupted her.

 

“SANS!”

 

The three turned to see Papyrus stomping towards the shorter skeleton. “sup, bro?” Sans asked.

 

“I’LL TELL YOU WHAT’S ‘UP’, BROTHER! YOUR PUZZLE STILL HAVEN’T BEEN RECALIBRATED! IT’S BEEN TWO WEEKS!” Papyrus muttered.

 

Sans shrugged. “sorry bro, but sitting at my station for hours is just _bone_ tiring.”

 

“NO, IT’S NOT! YOU’RE JUST TOO LAZY TO DO IT AND DON’T START WITH THE AWFUL PUNS!” His brother said impatiently.

 

Frisk stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Should she go behind the lamp like she planned or just stand here? Would it matter? She looked up at the king who shrugged his shoulders.

 

Papyrus let a tired huff and finally seemed to take notice of her. “SANS, WHAT’S THAT OVER THERE?”

 

“I think that’s a lamp, bro,” Sans answered.

 

“Oh,” Papyrus said in disappointment.

 

“hey, what that’s that _in_ _front_ of the lamp?” Sans asked, his grin growing wider.

 

Papyrus narrowed his eyes at Frisk and took a step closer to her. “ANOTHER LAMP I THINK? IT LOOKS QUITE SQUISHY THOUGH.” Papyrus said thoughtfully and then his eye sockets widened. “WAIT A MINUTE! THIS ISN’T A LAMP, SANS!” he exclaimed loudly. “IT’S A HUMAN!”

 

“Oh, really?” Sans said, acting surprised.

 

Papyrus was bouncing in his spot in joy. “I FINALLY DID IT, SANS! UNDYNE WILL….I’M GONNA…I’LL BE SO…POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!” he squealed excitedly before clearing his throat and glaring at Frisk.

 

“HUMAN, YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU AND DELIVER YOU TO THE CAPITOL! THEN...THEN!” the skeleton trailed off and scratched his skull. “WELL, I DON’T KNOW WHAT COMES AFTER THAT. IN ANY CASE, CONTINUE….ONLY IF YOU DARE!”

 

With that, he turned around and ran down the forest path, laughing all the way.

 

“Well, that went well.” Sans stated and turned to Frisk who was still shivering from the cold. He raised an ‘eyebrow’ and took off his jacket, passing it to her. “Here, kid.”

 

Frisk took the jacket and wasted no time putting it on before smiling gratefully at him. “Thanks,”

 

“snow problem. and don’t worry about my bro. he isn’t dangerous, even if he tries to be. I’ll keep an eye socket for ya,” he said with a wink before walking the other way.

 

“Um….what?” Asgore asked dumbly, trying to process any of what just happened and failing.

 

“Let’s just go,” Frisk said and began walking down the pathway.

 

**\-------**

 

The child sighed as she made her way through the forest, her breath visible in the cold. The tips of her fingers were freezing and she rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm them up.

 

It wasn’t long until she reached a point where the path splits at a fork in the road, one going up to the river and the other bending around some trees.

 

Frisk spotted a box sitting by a sign and approached it. She opened the box and looked inside to find a pink worn glove.

 

In the first timeline, Frisk had taken the Tough Glove. She hadn’t used it to fight any monsters, but having something to protect herself with had put her mind at ease back when she was still afraid and confused of everything around her.

 

But this time the sight of the dusty glove just made her….uncomfortable. She reached out and touched the worn leather, feeling her skin crawl and her senses buzzing for some reason. Maybe she should-

 

“What’s inside?”

 

Frisk nearly jumped out of her skin and slammed the box shut. She looked back to see the king staring down at her curiously.

 

She almost forgotten he was here. She couldn’t let Asgore see her walking around with a glove covered in monster dust. What will he think of her!?

 

 _He’ll be disgusted with you, that’s what._ A part of her mind kindly supplied. Frisk wouldn’t blame him if he felt that way though. Humans would be wary too if they saw someone carrying an object covered in blood.

 

“Nothing, just junk,” Frisk muttered nervously and walked ahead of him. Raising an eyebrow, Asgore glanced at the box for a moment and then followed her.

 

\------ 

 

The moment Frisk came out of the Ruins, Sans could tell something was not right. He could sense it within the kid, but he couldn’t tell what exactly it was or even get a clear read on her soul.

 

Frisk herself was different from the first timeline and it wasn’t just her hair. This Frisk was jumpy and distracted. As he followed her through the forest, he saw her murmuring to herself several times and looking at something that wasn’t really there.

 

Despite how much he wanted to believe that her weirdness was nothing, it was starting to make him uneasy.

 

Ever since the Resets started happening Sans got so used to seeing everything repeat that his mind didn’t know how to respond when he came across something _new_. Seeing Frisk for the first time had thrown the skeleton off and he didn’t know what to make of her so he watched her closely through her journey to get a better understanding of the anomaly.

 

And just when he thought he finally figured her out, this new Reset happened and now watching her left him with more questions than answers.

 

The short skeleton sighed and rubbed his skull, leaning against the tree he was hiding behind. He then poked his head around the tree to see an Icecap approaching the human. Once the battle began, miniature icebergs emerged from the snow and began moving towards Frisk.

 

The kid ran through the snow and managed to avoid most of the ice attacks, but she made the mistake of jumping far to the left to dodge an iceberg which left her open for an upcoming attack.

 

And then it happened.

 

Three large fireballs appeared above Frisk in the shape of an arch before blasting the iceberg to tiny pieces, leaving the Icecap completely stunned and gaping at the human.

 

Sans stood there baffled, all of his thoughts coming to a screeching halt. He could feel sweat forming on his forehead as he watched in shock as the child wave at the Icecap awkwardly before walking away from him.

What….was…. _that!?_

Okay, if Sans wasn’t sure before, he now _knew_ something wrong. Since when Frisk could do fire magic? Did she always have that or was it something she gained during this run?

 

His thoughts suddenly drifted back to the Ruins and he quickly teleported back to the huge door. Wasting no time, he knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. For a whole minute nothing happened and he couldn’t hear the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door.

 

A feeling dread and apprehension filling his soul, Sans knocked again more forcefully this time, feeling himself getting more anxious with every passing second.

 

Finally, after what felt like forever, a soft voice answered. “Who’s there?”

 

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sans smiled. “shower,”

 

“Shower who?”

 

“shower you today?”

 

The lady behind the door laughed, though it sounded a bit watery for some reason. “I’m alright,”

 

“is everything okay in there?” Sans asked, suspiciously.

 

The lady sounded surprised by the question. “O-Oh, well yes. Why do you ask?”

 

“just checking,” Sans answered, looking down at his feet in thought. So the kid hadn’t tried anything so far. That eased his suspicions, or at least some of them. After saying goodbye, he teleported back to Snowdin forest to find Frisk talking to Papyrus, but Sans’ gaze remained on the human.

 

He’ll have to be more careful while keeping an eye out on the kid from now on, especially around his brother.

 

It could have been his imagination, it was probably his imagination, but just for a second Sans thought he saw a tall dark silhouette standing behind Frisk.


	5. Far-off Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry about the wait. I've been suffering from writer's block for the last few weeks, but I'm over it now and ready to continue this story!

Frisk made her way through the snow field, her feet making crunching sounds with every step. She suddenly stopped in her tracks at the sight an approaching monster in the distance. Without a second thought, she quickly ran and jumped behind some bushes.

 

Asgore looked at where she went and the monster coming towards them before flying after Frisk and kneeling down beside her, trying to fit himself behind the bushes as much as possible. It wasn't easy though because of how large he was.

 

"What are you doing?" Frisk asked in hushed whisper.

 

"I'm hiding with you." Asgore answered, confused by her question.

 

"But why? Nobody can see you except me!" Frisk muttered.

 

Asgore blinked. "Oh...right." he stood up and tugged at his cape awkwardly.

 

Frisk peeked through the bush and immediately recognized the monster as Lesser Dog. The knight was carrying both his sword and shield, his eyes scanning the trees every now and then for any sign of movement.

 

Frisk thought for a moment and then glanced up at Asgore. "Can you go and distract him for me?"

 

"Alright," Asgore nodded and flew over to Lesser Dog. The king wasn't sure what he could do that would be considered "distracting" so he created a ball of fire in his hand, instantly catching the dog's attention.

 

Lesser Dog tilted his head in confusion and slowly approached the fireball that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Asgore moved the fireball in his hand from left to right, trying to keep the knight's attention on him. At the corner of his eye, he spotted Frisk sneaking behind the monster.

 

"Frisk, what are you doing? Run before he sees you!" Asgore muttered in panic, but the child ignore him. She jumped and grabbed onto Lesser Dog's back, making him cry out in surprise. Asgore watched in alarm as the dog monster tried shaking the human off, but Frisk held on and refused to let go.

 

Lesser Dog suddenly stopped struggling when Frisk began…petting his head?

 

The dog monster dropped his weapons and began rolling on the snow, his neck growing slightly longer as he barked in joy.

 

Asgore gave Frisk a baffled look who giggled and motioned for him to just follow. Raising an eyebrow, Asgore dismissed the fireball and awkwardly looked at the dog monster rolling in the snow before following her.

 

The two of them then proceeded through more puzzles and coming across more guards. Frisk luckily knew what to do around each monster in order for them to let her pass.

 

As much as he was glad that Frisk was unharmed, he wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that the child easily managed to bypass all his royal guards…..twice apparently.

 

By the time Frisk made it to the end of the forest, she was shivering and her cheeks were tinted red. Even with Sans' jacket the cold still stung her legs and face. A sudden breeze made her shiver violently and hugged herself. Frowning in concern, Asgore knelt down in front of the child and held a fireball out for her. "Here,"

 

Frisk smiled gratefully and rubbed her hands together in front of the fire, savoring the warmth as much as possible before deciding it was time to move on.

 

They soon made it to the bridge where the skeleton brothers were waiting for her at the end of it.

 

"HUMAN, THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BEHOLD, THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!"

 

Papyrus then pressed a button on a remote and an arsenal of deadly weapons suddenly appeared around the bridge including spikes, spears, canons and...a dog hanging from a rope?

 

Asgore's gulped as the weapons surrounded them from every corner and then looked at the child in worry. There was no way Frisk could survive this. He quickly raised his hand and charged his magic.

 

"ARE YOU READY? BECAUSE I'M ABOUT TO-" Before he could even finish, the two brothers jumped back as every weapon exploded in a fiery blaze.

 

Papyrus stared at the wreckage slack-jawed. The only thing seemed to have survived was the white dog who barked excitedly despite what just occurred. "WELL, THAT WAS UNEXPECTED." Papyrus stated, scratching his skull.

 

"S-Sorry about your puzzle." Frisk said awkwardly.

 

Papyrus held his hand up and grinned. "WORRY NOT, HUMAN! I DIDN'T LIKE THAT PUZZLE VERY MUCH ANYWAY. IT HAD….NO CLASS AND MY STANDARDS ARE MUCH HIGHER THAN THAT!" he explained and gave one last laugh before walking away.

 

Frisk watched him leave and then slowly walked over to Sans. "well, that had been a blast,"

 

"SANS, I HEARD THAT!" Papyrus screamed from the distance.

 

Sans chuckled and then turned to Frisk. "anyway, the town is just up ahead. if you see my brother again remember what I said about blue attacks, okay?" he said, but there a weird edge in his voice as if there was something else he wanted to say.

 

"Okay, thanks," Frisk muttered nervously.

 

She could still feel the skeleton's gaze on her as she walked away from him.

 

**\--------**

 

Once Frisk was sure she was out of earshot, she glanced back at the bridge and then at the king. "You didn't really have to destroy that puzzle. He didn't active it the first time I was there."

 

Asgore frowned guiltily. "Sorry, I didn't know."

 

"It's okay," She had been terrified too when she first set foot on that bridge and thought Papyrus would really active it.

 

As they walked into town, they passed the large sign that greeted them: "Welcome to Snowdin."

 

Asgore smiled at the sight of the town, recalling all the times he came her to meet and talk with his subjects. He glanced down to see Frisk staring at the distance, almost nervously before turning around and walking over to the shop. She hurriedly went inside the building and closed the door behind her firmly, letting out a sigh at the warmth that greeted her.

 

Asgore frowned. It's true that the cold didn't bother him in the past thanks to his fur, but now he barely noticed the difference in the temperature even when standing in this cozy warm shop.

 

Upon seeing the child, the rabbit monster behind the counter placed her book down and smiled. "Hello traveler! How can I help you?"

 

Frisk looked between the items on the counter and ended up buying some Cinnamon Buns and a Bisicle before leaving the store. They made their way through the town, greeting some monsters and passing each building until they stopped at the sight of the tall figure in the distance.

 

Asgore squinted and realized it was Papyrus.

 

"HUMAN….ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS." Papyrus said.

 

"FEELINGS LIKE THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL."

 

"THESE FEELINGS…." He suddenly grinned and pointed at her enthusiastically. "IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU MUST BE FEELING! I PITY YOU LONELY HUMAN."

 

Asgore glanced at Frisk who shrugged.

 

Papyrus placed a hand over his chest plate. "WORRY NOT HUMAN, YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO MORE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR…." His voice trailed off and the skeleton suddenly looked conflicted. He turned his back on her and shook his skull frantically.

 

"NO! WHAT AM I SAYING!? WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS. YOU'RE A HUMAN AND I'M A MONSTER!" He turned to her again, looking resolved. "I MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN, I CAN FUFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM!"

 

With that, Papyrus summoned a bone and held it in his hand as he took a fighting stance. "POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS! THAT'S PAPYRUS! _…_ THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"

 

**\-------**

 

"LET'S SEE HOW YOU HANDLE MY FABLED 'BLUE ATTACK'!" Papyrus exclaimed before launching countless light blue bones towards the child.

 

Frisk bit her lip and stood still, already knowing what will happen next. Once the attack passed over her, she felt the familiar weight fall on her soul as it changed from red to blue.

 

Papyrus beamed in triumph. "YOU'RE BLUE NOW! THAT'S MY ATTACK! NYEH HEH HEH!"

 

Asgore knelt down to check on her soul. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern. He knew how this kind of blue magic worked, but he hadn't seen it being used on a human before.

 

"I'm fine," Frisk answered, her body feeling almost twice as heavy as before. Every step took more effort than it usually did. She looked up just in time to see Papyrus charge his first attack.

 

The child quickly jumped to the side to dodge the bone, her movement slightly sluggish thanks to her blue soul.

 

"HMM…YOU MAY HAVE EASILY AVOIDED THAT ATTACK, BUT HOW HIGH CAN YOU JUMP?"

 

An array of bones burst from the snow and he send it charging towards her. Wasting no time, Frisk jumped over them and was immediately pulled back to the ground by the blue magic encasing her soul.

 

"YES, I CAN ALMOST TASTE MY FUTURE POPULARITY. PAPYRUS: HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD! PAPYRUS: UNPARALLELED SPAGHETTORE!" Papyrus mused as he sent more bones in her direction, his attacks increasing in complexity.

 

A bone from the ground slammed against her chest and sent her falling into a snow pile. Wincing slightly, she stood up and brushed the snow off her clothes. She had to distract the skeleton somehow.

 

The child's lips drew into a thin line when she knew what she had to do now.

 

"Hey, Papyrus!" she called out.

 

"YES, HUMAN?"

 

"I really like your scarf!"

 

Papyrus beamed at the compliment. "WHY THANK YOU, HUMAN. I AM VERY-"

 

"Can we hang out?" she asked with her hands behind her back.

 

Papyrus blinked at her. "W-WAIT, ARE YOU….ARE YOU FLIRTING WITH ME!?" his stuttered, his cheek bones somehow turning a bright shade of orange.

 

"What!?" Asgore exclaimed and turned to her. Frisk's cheeks burned in embarrassment and looked away.

 

"SO YOU FINALLY HAVE REVEALED YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS!" Papyrus declared. "W-WELL, I AM A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS! STANDARDS YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY HOPE TO ACHIEVE!"

 

"I…I like spaghetti." Frisk shrugged.

 

Papyrus gasped, covering his mouth with both his hands. "OH NO, YOU MEET ALL OF MY STANDARDS! I GUESS NOW I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU?" He asked, rubbing the back of his skull unsure.

 

Asgore stammered between them. "W-Wait, hold on-"

 

"NO! L-LET'S DATE LATER! RIGHT AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!" he stated and the onslaught of bones continued. He gathered some gray particles in his free hand and launched them above his head. Frisk looked up to see bones materializing in the air aimed at her so she quickly ran across the snowfield to dodge them.

 

Just as a bone was about to hit her head, a fireball appeared and blasted it away, startling Papyrus.

 

"HOLD ON….Y-YOU CAN DO FIRE MAGIC!?" he muttered, eye sockets wide and a nervous edge entered his voice. He quickly shook his head and glared at her. "WELL, NO MATTER. YOU ARE STILL NO MATCH FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

 

Frisk braced herself for the next attack when she suddenly lost feeling in both her legs and couldn't move.

 

"Frisk?" Asgore called out when he saw the child standing still in front of an incoming attack. "Frisk, get out of the way!"

 

"I-I can't!" Frisk stammered, panicking as she tried to regain control over her body. It was as if there were a pair of unseen hands gripping her legs and keeping her in her spot. The feeling suddenly left and she managed to move out of way just before the attack hit her.

 

Frisk fell on her backside on the snow, trying to catch her breath. The child didn't have time to think about what just occurred as Papyrus kept sending more attacks her way.

 

"GIVE UP NOW BEFORE I USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" Papyrus exclaimed as bones began jutting out of the ground randomly. Frisk backed away quickly, barely missing the bone that was aiming for her shoulder.

 

Frisk yelped as another invisible tug pulled her to the side, making her trip and much to her horror, accidentally stepped into a blue attack. She instantly cried out as pain shoot through her soul and fell to her knees.

 

Three more bones were coming her way, but luckily they were destroyed by fireballs before they got to her. She shakily reached for her pocket and took out a Cinnamon Bun, wasting no time in eating it. She was slightly relieved when the pain slowly subsided and pushed herself back up.

 

What's going on? What was causing this? Her first thought was Papyrus, but the skeleton himself looked confused by the odd way she would move and fall down all of a sudden.

 

"FINE! BEHOLD, MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" Papyrus declared as he took a step back and began charging energy in the bone in his hand, but it was suddenly snatched from him. Blinking in confusion, he looked back to see a dog chewing on the bone.

 

"HEY! THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" Papyrus shouted and marched towards it. "YOU STUPID DOG! GIVE ME BACK THAT BONE!"

 

The dog blinked at him and then took off with the bone. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING!? COME BACK WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" Papyrus screeched, but the dog was already gone. Sighing, he turned to Frisk. "OH WELL, I'LL JUST USE A REALLY COOL REGULAR ATTACK!"

 

**\-------**

 

It wasn't long until Papyrus was exhausted and decided to spare her, ending the fight. Asgore quickly flew over to Frisk who was trying to catch her breath.

 

"Frisk, what happened back there?" he asked.

 

"I don't know." She answered, honestly confused. Nothing like that happened to her in the previous timeline. Whatever it was, she hoped it won't happen again. She turned to Papyrus who was staring at the snow dejectedly.

 

"I COULDN'T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU. UNDYNE IS GOING TO BE VERY DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I WOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED INTO THE ROYAL GUARD AND MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!" Papyrus lamented.

 

Frisk frowned and approached the sad skeleton. "Hey, I will be your friend."

 

"REALLY!?" Papyrus looked up at her hopefully.

 

Frisk smiled and nodded.

 

"WOWIE! WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD OUR FIRST DATE AND I'VE ALREADY HIT THE FRIEND ZONE!" Papyrus said, smiling back. "WHO THOUGHT THAT ALL I NEEDED TO DO TO MAKE PALS WAS TO….MAKE THEM GO THROUGH AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM? I…"

 

The skeleton stopped himself and glanced down at her with curiosity and slight confusion. "HEY, HUMAN?"

 

"Yes?"

 

"I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO ASK YOU…..HAVE WE MET BEFORE?"

 

Frisk blinked, taken aback by the question. "What do you mean?"

 

Papyrus scratched his skull in slight frustration as if he was trying to recall something but wasn't able to. "I JUST FEEL LIKE I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW YOU SOMEHOW."

 

Frisk stiffened and her eyes widened. Could he be….no….that's not possible!

 

"OH WELL, I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH, BUT DON'T FORGET TO COME BACK SO WE CAN HAVE OUR DATE, ALRIGHT? MY HOUSE IS RIGHT OVER THERE!" he pointed at the large house at the edge of town and gave her one last smile before leaving.

 

Frisk watched the skeleton walk away, trying to ignore the doubts creeping at the back of her mind.


	6. Tension Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks for your continued support. The story will start picking up again in this chapter. It took a little longer than I thought it would mostly because I had three tests to study for and an assignment to finish. College is tiring.

“Well, that was certainly…..something,” Asgore said as they walked out of Papyrus’ house.

 

Frisk just had her date with the tall skeleton, if you could really call it that. The fact that Asgore was there watching them the entire time had made things a little more…..awkward to see the least.

 

“C’mon, we should leave now.” The child said and began heading towards the cave entrance.

 

Sans was napping in his hotdog station when he suddenly sensed someone approaching. He opened one eye socket to see the kid coming his way. Letting out a heavy yawn, the skeleton straightened himself on the chair and met the child’s stare.

 

“what? haven’t you see a guy with two jobs before?” he muttered. “fortunately having two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks you get.” He explained and Frisk rolled her eyes in amusement.

 

“actually, I feel like taking one right now,” He stated, scratching his ‘chin’. “I’m going to Grillby’s, wanna come with me?”

 

Frisk shrugged. “Sure,”

 

“well if you _insist_ , I’ll pry myself from my work.” He said and stood up, motioning for her to follow him. “c’mon, I know a shortcut there.”

 

Even though Frisk knew what to expect, it still caught her off guard when the wet soil disappeared from beneath her feet and was replaced with hard wooden floor. She could feel a tingling sensation travelling through her body and shuddered slightly.

 

“fast shortcut, eh?” Sans chuckled and walked ahead to greet everyone.

 

“How on earth did we get here?” Asgore asked as he looked around confused.

 

Frisk shrugged her shoulders and went up to take a seat with the skeleton only for the familiar noise of a whoopie cushion to fill the air the moment she sat down.

 

She gave Sans a look who laughed again. “careful kid, some weirdoes like to put those on the seats,” he took the cushion away and Frisk sat down. “so, whaddya want? fries or a burger?”

 

“Fries would be fine,”

 

“alright,” Sans said and waved for the fire elemental.  “grillby, we’ll have a double order of fries,”

 

Grillby nodded and walked through the back door. Frisk sat there and waited quietly. She then glanced over at the skeleton confused by his silence. He seemed to be deep in thought, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

 

Grillby soon came back with their order and placed the plates in front of them. The sound seemed to snap the skeleton out of thoughts and he gave the fire elemental a grateful smile. “thanks, grillbz,”

 

Grillby simply nodded again before returning to cleaning a glass.

 

“ketchup?” Sans asked, holding the bottle out for her.

 

Already fallen for that prank before, Frisk declined. “No thanks,” she said with a smile.

 

Sans raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. “okay, more for me I guess.” With that, the skeleton began drinking from the bottle, smirking slightly at her baffled expression.

 

Sans then sat the bottle down and glanced at her. “what? aren’t you gonna dig in?”

 

“R-Right,” Frisk stammered and tried one of the fries.

 

“so kid, I’ve wanted to ask you something.” Sans began, something in the atmosphere suddenly shifting. “while I was walking through the forest, I thought I saw you use fire magic. what’s up with that?”

 

The question caught Frisk off guard and she gulped nervously under his gaze. “Oh, well……humans on the surface can use magic too, you know.”

 

“oh really?” Sans asked, not sounding convinced.

 

“O-Of course! I…” she racked her brain as she tried to think of something. “Wasn’t it human wizards who created the barrier?” she said and internally winced.

 

Connecting herself to the people who started the war was probably not the best way to go about this, but it was better than admitting she had absorbed a monster’s soul. That will surely lead to something much worse.

 

Sans narrowed his eye sockets at her suspiciously. He could tell there was something she wasn’t telling him, but what? He then noticed the kid’s hair and frowned.

 

“hey kid, what’s wrong with your hair?” he asked, some concern making its way in his voice. When the kid first came out of the Ruins, there was a single strand of white hair on her forehead. Now somehow there more of them.  

 

Frisk blinked. “Oh, don’t worry about it. It happens to humans all the time.” She stated. Technically, that wasn’t a lie. A human’s hair does start turning white when they get older, but it wasn’t exactly the whole truth.

 

She then quickly began eating away her fries, hoping to avoid any more questions. Sans stared at her for a moment silently before turning to his own meal.

 

The restaurant was filled with the sound of chatter for a few minutes until the door was slammed open and a rabbit monster walked in out of breath. He quickly hurried to the Dog Squad. “S-Something happened. We need your help!”  

 

The dogs tensed up and reached for their weapons. “What’s the problem?” Dogressa asked.

 

“It’s the king. He’s gone missing!” he finally said and everyone in the restaurant fell silent, staring at him in shock.

 

Frisk felt her heart skip a beat and all the air left her lungs. Her blood ran cold as the dogs gathered around the rabbit monster and began questioning him.

 

“What? How!?”

 

“Are you sure about this?”

 

The shaken monster nodded frantically. “Y-Yes! No one had seen him in two days. He hadn’t attended any meetings and won’t answer his phone. W-When someone went to check his house they found it empty!”

 

Sans’ frown deepened at this and glanced around. Everyone seemed worried by the news and began chattering among themselves. It was then he noticed that Frisk was nowhere to be seen.

 

“kid?”

**\-------**

The moment the news reached her, Undyne sprinted towards Hotland without a second thought. No matter how much the heat bothered her, not once did she slow down. She needed to get to the castle as fast possible.

 

From what she heard, Asgore had missed several important meetings and never once called to explain why he hadn’t showed up. He won’t even answer his phone! She tried calling him herself, but got nothing out it.

 

Because the fact that they lived far apart, she couldn’t visit Asgore very often. The last time she had seen the big guy was about a week ago, but he would have told her if he had to go somewhere for a while.

 

It took her some time, but she soon made it to New Home. Panting, the royal captain hurried to his house. “Asgore, you there?” she called out as she banged on the door. When no answer came, she opened the door and went inside.

 

Nothing was out of place. Everything looked exactly like she remembered it the last time she had been here. There was no sign of the king anywhere though. “Old Man!” she tried again, but only silence greeted her.

 

Undyne bit her lip, worry filling her chest. She clutched her fists and scowled before hurrying towards the throne room. Maybe something there will give her an idea on what’s going on.

 

Once she made it there, she began looking around for any clues. The first thing she noticed was that the golden flowers seemed to have not been watered in a while. She made a mental note of getting someone to water them later.

 

She then looked over and saw Asgore’s tea set on a table. She slowly made her way there and looked at it closely. None of the cups seemed to have been used yet. She then checked the tea pot. The tea inside it was cold, but it was filled to the brim, almost as if Asgore had made it moments ago.

 

Something was wrong.

 

_Asgore, where are you?_ Undyne thought worriedly as she put the tea pot down. Glancing at the throne one last time, the fish woman sprinted out of the room.

 

**\-------**

Frisk had slipped out of the restaurant without being seen. She walked through the town in a daze with no direction in mind.

 

_“He’s gone missing!”_

The monster’s words echoed in her head. This couldn’t have had something to do with what she did, could it? But how? It shouldn’t be possible! There has to be another explanation for this.

 

But no matter how much Frisk tried to deny it, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she knew it was true.

 

All this time she had thought she was talking to Asgore from the first timeline. She didn’t think she had-

 

Just how far did she screw up with that Reset?

 

Frisk glanced around to see monsters gathering in the center of the town. Apparently the news of what happened had spread. Monsters were whispering to each other worriedly and she could feel unease hanging over the town like ominous clouds. The more Frisk watched, the guiltier she felt.

 

The Dog Squad were standing among the crowds, trying their best to calm them down even though they looked uncertain of what to do. They assured everyone that they will form a search party to look for the king right away and bring him ba-

 

Frisk turned around and quickly walked away, not wanting to listen anymore. She kept walking aimlessly and stumbled several time until she made it to the edge of the town.

 

“Frisk?”

 

The child stopped and looked up at Asgore who was watching her in concern. She could tell he was worried about her. “I’ll be fine,” she said, looking down at the ground.

 

Asgore sighed and ran a hand through his mane. He glanced back to the crowds and frowned dejectedly, unsure of what to do or say. He then looked up at the ceiling and noticed the light from the crystals was getting dimmer. “It’s getting late, Frisk. Maybe you should find somewhere to rest in.”

 

Well, she didn’t feel like heading out anymore. Without arguing, Frisk slowly made her way towards the inn. She went inside and asked the lady there for a room for the night.

 

“hey kid,”

 

Startled, Frisk looked back to see Sans standing in the doorway, looking at her with a raised brow. “I couldn’t find you back there. why did you run off like that?”

 

“Oh, sorry. I just got upset with what’s going on.” She said hesitantly.

 

Sans shrugged. “it’s alright, though you forgot to give me my jacket back,”

 

Frisk realized she was still the blue jacket and quickly took it off, holding out to him sheepishly. “Thanks for lending it to me.”

 

“no problem, see ya,” he muttered and began walking away. He suddenly stopped in his tracks and glanced back at her. “kid?”

 

“What?” she asked.

 

“I don’t know what’s got you down, but chill up okay?” he said with a wink. Frisk found herself smiling a little and nodded.

 

With that, the skeleton made his way out of the doorway and stepped outside where snow was starting to fall.

 

Just when he was about to head home, he heard the faint sound of static. He looked around, trying to see where it was coming from, but he didn’t see anything. The noise continued for a few seconds before stopping.

 

Sans’ eye turned blue and scanned the area cautiously for a minute, but found nothing. He scratched his skull. Had he imagined that? He looked back at the inn briefly before sighing and teleporting back to his house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I already have the next chapter planned out so it should be ready in a few days.


	7. Nightfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t believe the amount of positive feedback this story is getting. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it!

“Child?”

 

Frisk snapped from her thoughts and turned to see the innkeeper holding out a key for her.

 

“Here, enjoy your stay,” she said, but she sounded tired.

 

“Thanks,” Frisk replied hesitantly, taking the key from her and heading towards the staircase. She glanced back at the room where the innkeeper was one more time and then kept walking. The place was surprisingly quiet tonight and only the sound of her steps filled the air.

 

She slowly walked through corridor, looking around the many doors until she found her room. She opened the door, the old wood letting out a loud creak.

 

She walked over to the bed and took off her boots before hopping onto it. She silently sat there for a while staring at the floor.

 

 _What am I supposed to do now?_ She thought glumly. This whole mess happened because of her mistake and now she had no idea how to fix it. She considered resetting again, but thought better of it. There was no guarantee that Asgore won’t still be bound to her.

 

Frisk groaned and buried her face in her hands. She found herself once again regretting her decision to absorb that soul to-

 

The child blinked as a thought came to her mind and her eyes slowly lit up. “I got it!” she exclaimed, startling Asgore.

 

“What?” he asked confused.

 

“I’ll free your soul,” Frisk explained with a hopeful grin, surprised for having not thought of that before. If there was a way to absorb a soul then _surely_ there was a way to release it. Wasting no time, Frisk held her hand over her chest and summoned her soul only to be surprised when she noticed something…..off about it.

 

There were white colorless specs floating around her soul that she was sure weren’t there earlier today. Even Asgore seemed intrigued by the sight.

 

“I have never seen anything like this before,” he stated as he rubbed his beard.

 

Brows furrowed, Frisk shrugged it off as another side-effect and tried to focus on the problem at hand. How was she supposed to free the soul anyway?

 

“Do you know how I can do it?” Frisk asked him. After all, Asgore was the king of monsters. He had to know something that could help her.

 

Asgore shook his head. “No, it’s like I said. A human absorbing a monster’s soul has never been done before. We don’t have much knowledge about it.”

 

No one, as far as Asgore remembered, had tried to study soul absorption in past mostly because of how dangerous and risky it was. For all he knew there might not be a way to reverse it.

 

Frisk frowned, but refused to let that discourage her. Maybe it wasn’t as complicated as it seemed to be. Maybe all she had to do is concentrate on setting the soul free!

 

Determined, Frisk brought her hands around her soul feeling the familiar warmth radiating from it and tried to will the king’s soul out of her body. She kept trying for several minutes, hoping to get some sort of a reaction or a sign that it’s working, but nothing happened. Nothing changed about her soul.

 

“I’m sorry,” Frisk finally said in defeat. She felt the familiar sense of failure weight on her chest and looked away.

 

Asgore gave her a small smile. “Hey it’s alright, you tried.”

 

When Frisk didn’t look up at him Asgore realized she wasn’t just talking about releasing his soul. Sighing, the king knelt in front of the child and made sure she was looking at him.

 

“Frisk, I know things aren’t looking up at the moment, but I’m sure my guards can figure something out. Don’t be too hard on yourself, alright?” he said, trusting his people to be able to find a way around this predicament.

 

Frisk didn’t look all that convinced, but nodded anyway. She soon let out a tired yawn and decided it was time to sleep. “Good night,” she muttered and slipped beneath the covers.

 

“Oh,” Asgore’s face flattered a little. “G-Good night,” He twiddled his thumbs for a moment nervously and glanced around before speaking again. “You know, there is a frozen lake somewhere near the town. It’s quite the sight to see. I can take you there tomorrow if you want.”

 

“Sure,” Frisk mumbled sleepily.

 

He was stalling and he knew that, but he kept talking anyway. “I have been busy over the last few months so I haven’t been there in a while, but I’m sure you’ll like it…I….” His voice trailed off when he heard heavy breathing and realized the child had already fallen asleep.

 

Asgore sighed.

 

He was alone again.

 

Frisk was the only one who could see and hear him and the only company he can find was by talking to her. He wished he could sleep the night away too, but due to his ghostly state he no longer felt tired or the need to sleep. When he tries closing his eyes nothing happens anymore. The days since he woke up like this had been the longest ones he could remember.

 

Floating away from the bed, he glanced around the small room. There wasn’t much here that he could distract himself with. Maybe he could pass the time by exploring the inn until morning came. He turned to look through the window, watching the snow fall quietly on the town.

 

He suddenly spotted Lesser Dog and Doggo meeting up in front of the inn. Doggo asked him something, probably about the search and Lesser Dog shook his head, his ears drooping dejectedly. Doggo sighed in disappointment and patted his companion’s shoulder comfortingly before leading him away.

 

It pained Asgore to see his subjects hurting like this and being unable to do anything about it. It was his job to care for their wellbeing and now he could only helplessly watch as they suffered in his absence. He looked down at his transparent hands and sighed.

 

He then glanced back at the sleeping girl. Of course he didn’t blame Frisk for any of this. How could he? The fight that started it all of this was his choice to begin with and yet she didn’t resent him for the situation they were in.

 

He watched the soft rise and fall of her chest and felt his face soften.

 

She never blamed him for anything and neither would he.

 

**\--------**

 

Undyne sighed in relief as she watched the crowds of monsters as they finally dispersed. She had spent the last hour trying to assure the monsters living in New Home and stop anymore panic from spreading.

 

“Here, captain,”

 

Undyne turned around confused to see a dragon knight holding a bottle of water out for her.

 

“Thanks,” she said and wasted no time drinking it. She never realized just thirsty she was until now. Her trek through Hotland certainly didn’t help.

 

“How’s the search going?” she asked once she was done.

 

The royal guardsman flinched slightly at the question. “Nothing so far. We’ve searched the castle and through most parts of New Home. There are some guards in Hotland, but we haven’t heard anything from them yet.”

 

Undyne resisted the urge to yell at that. Now was not the time to get angry. Monsters were already uneasy with what’s happening and losing her composure in front of them will only make things worse. She gave him a firm nod. “Alright, keep looking,”

 

“Yes, captain!” The dragon said and turned around to leave.

 

The fish woman made her way through the streets, watching monsters assuring their kids into their homes for the night. A few of them gave her curious looks, but said nothing.

 

She soon stopped and gazed up at the towering structure of the royal castle above them. She looked around for a moment before walking over to the nearest building. Swiftly, she jumped and grabbed onto the wall before climbing the rest of the way up.

 

She finally made it to the top of the building and sat on the edge with a grunt. So far their search hadn’t gotten them anywhere near finding Asgore. They kept reaching a dead-end after another no matter where they looked or who they asked.

 

She hoped Alphys was having better luck than her. The fish woman had searched the castle herself for a clue or _anything_ that would tell her what happened to her king and mentor. She even gone as far as asking some of the monsters who last talked to him before he went missing, but she still ended up with nothing to go by!

 

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Undyne slammed her fist down, creating a crack on the roof. She sighed and rubbed her temples. Why was she so worried anyway? Asgore had to be fine. He was the toughest monster she knew. He can take care of himself!  

 

But despite her attempt to assure herself, it didn’t make her unease go away.  

 

Suddenly, she was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of her phone ringing. “Hello?” she muttered tiredly.

 

Undyne listened to the monster on the other end for a few seconds and what she heard made her eyes widen and she shoot up in shock.

 

_“YOU SAW A HUMAN!?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologize for not updating very frequently. I’m planning on finishing this fic, but I don’t want to rush it. I tend to rewrite each chapter several times until I’m satisfied with everything. One of my old stories started out alright, but at the end it didn’t turn out good because I rushed it. I don’t want the same thing to happen to this one since it’s my first Undertale fic.


	8. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. It's past midnight right now, but I really wanted to get this out. Enjoy!

_He opened the door to his house and went inside, letting out a tired sigh. It had been quite the busy day. He was feeling the strain of his position more acutely than usual and wanted nothing more than to lay down and rest for the night._

_He could hear cluttering sounds coming from the kitchen as he made his way towards his bedroom. He slowly opened the door and stepped inside only to be surprised when he saw a small box on top of his bed. Confused, he opened the box and look inside it to find a pink sweater._

_Raising an eyebrow, he held it out in his hands to see some letters stitched into it. He heard something behind him and glanced back to see a small shadow peeking through the doorway before fleeing quickly._

_He felt a smile rise stretch across his face._

_The scene then changed. He was walking through the same hallway again, but something was different. The house was empty and the previous noises that filled it before were all gone. He stepped outside and stared inside the house tiredly for a while before closing it._

_There was a final glimpse of several glowing glass containers in a dark room before their light faded out._

Frisk woke up with a start, glancing around herself frantically. Once she realized she was back in the bedroom, she sighed in relief. She rubbed the back of her head as she thought back on the strange dream she had, if she could really call it that. It didn’t feel like one at all, like watching something unfold without being present there to see it.

 

It was weird, but that final vision got the gears in her mind turning.

 

“Oh, good morning Frisk!” Asgore muttered as he flew over to her, looking pleased to see her.

 

“Hey Asgore….can I ask you something?” she said, swinging her feet to the side of the bed to face him.

 

The king smiled. “Sure, what is it?”

 

The girl hesitated for a second. “The souls you’ve collected…they’re hidden somewhere in your castle, right?” she asked carefully.

 

Asgore jerked back in surprise. That had been the last thing he thought she would ask him about. “W-Well, yes.” He answered nervously.

 

“And you remember where you kept them, right?”

 

“Frisk, where are you going with this?” Asgore frowned.

 

“I think I figured out a way to fix this.” She explained. “If we could get the souls, we could use them to break the barrier and then no one will be trapped here anymore!”

 

Asgore shook his head grimly. “That’s not possible. We can’t do that with just six. It won’t be enough.”

 

“But what about my soul? That should give us enough power to do it, right?” Frisk pressed on.

 

Asgore bit his lip. Frisk’s plan could work, but….there might be some risks involved. “We still don’t know if that is safe or not. Are you sure about this.”

 

Frisk frowned at that. She wasn’t really sure about this either, but there was simply no time to investigate. Frisk was going to reverse this mess. She was determined to do so. “I’m positive. Trust me!” she said reassuringly as she hopped off her bed.

 

“B-But Frisk!” Asgore stammered, but the girl was already heading down the stairs. After spending so much time feeling nothing, but guilt and uncertainty, she FINALLLY had something to cling onto, something she was certain of. And that alone made her more excited to head out.

 

She greeted the innkeeper and thanked her for the room before leaving the building. Wasting no time, she made her way through the town. Suddenly, Monster Kid ran past her only to trip over and fall on his face.

 

She walked over to check on him. “Are you okay?”

 

The young monster stood up and shook the snow off his face. “Hurry, she’s here!” he said excitedly.

 

Frisk raised an eyebrow. “Who are you talking about-”

 

“Alright, tell me. Where’s the human?”

 

Frisk froze up and her eyes widen at the voice. _No, it couldn’t be._ She stiffly looked up ahead to see the armored fish woman standing not far from where she was, surrounded by all of the members of the Royal Guard.

 

While Monster Kid ran over to get a closer look at his idol, Frisk took a step back feeling her heart hammering violently in her chest. If she ran back to the inn they’ll surely see her. Looking around in panic, she quickly went to hide behind a light pole.

 

“You mean to tell me you saw the human and didn’t capture it? What were you all thinking!?” Undyne yelled sternly as she paced in front of them. The dogs flinched and lowered their heads in shame.

 

It was then Greater Dog spotted the child at the corner of his eye and glanced at her. She quickly raised a finger over her mouth to silence him, looking at him pleadingly.

 

Greater Dog looked conflicted and unsure of what to do for a minute before finally returning his attention to the captain.

 

Undyne sighed and rubbed her temples in frustration. “Just tell me what it looked like.”

 

“W-Well, she was short and was wearing a purple striped shirt.”

 

Frisk gulped in fear. If there had been a chance for her to sneak away unnoticed it was now gone. There was no way out of this. She will have to make a run for it. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, Frisk burst from behind the light pole running as fast as she could.

 

“H-Hey! There she is!” Undyne shouted in surprise.

 

Frisk dashed through the town nearly crashing into some bystanders in her haste. “Excuse me, sorry!” she muttered as she scrambled through the confused crowds with the angry fish woman hot on her heels.

 

“No, don’t let her get away!” The fish woman exclaimed over the surprised cries, but the monsters were too shocked to do anything about Frisk.

 

“Stop right now!” Frisk glanced back to see Undyne charging an energy spear in her hand and cried out when it flew past her, impaling the decorated tree.

 

Panicking, Frisk gritted her teeth and tried to run faster passing by the skeleton’s house and across the snowfield.

 

“Come on, just a little more!” Asgore muttered. Both of them yelped when a spear went right through him. He glanced back to see Undyne preparing another spear as the distance between them got smaller and smaller.

 

He quickly clutched his fist and made a slashing motion with his hand causing the snow in front of their chasers to explode in a hot blast and stop them in their tracks.

 

Frisk meanwhile finally reached the cave entrance and passed Sans’ station. She continued running through the cavern for several minutes until she had to stop to rest.

 

“Did…Did we lose them?” she asked, panting.

 

Asgore glanced back at the tunnel they came from and listened for anything that would indicated that they were being followed, but he heard nothing. “Yes, I believe so,” he answered.

 

The girl placed a hand over her chest and sighed in relief. Walking over to a nearby stream, she knelt down to splash some water on her face. It was then she saw her reflection in the water and paused.

 

Frisk hadn’t gotten a look at herself since she left the ruins and was a little taken aback to see half of the strands on her forehead had turned white. She ran a hand through them and grimaced.

 

“We should keep moving before they catch up to us.” Asgore stated from beside her. Frisk nodded at him and turned to walk away. Asgore then glanced at the water and frowned.

 

His own reflection was nowhere to be seen.

 

\-------

 

The two soon entered a new room that was darker than the others. It was quiet and the only sound was the soft murmurs of nearby echo flowers. Frisk looked up and realized they were in what she recalled to be the Wishing Room.

 

A low rumble then came from the girl’s stomach reminding her that in her rush to leave she hadn’t eaten breakfast. She took out a Cinnamon Bun and began munching on it as she continued walking down the trail.

 

Just then, smoke somehow began to rise from the bun. Startled, Frisk dropped it on the ground and the two watched as it spontaneously burst into flames.

 

Frisk took a step closer and stared in stunned silence as her bun became nothing more than a pile of smoke and ash. Scowling, the child glared at Asgore. “Why did you do that? That wasn’t funny!”

 

Asgore stammered. “I-I didn’t do anything!”

 

Frisk watched him for a minute and her scowl slowly fell. Throughout the time she known him, Asgore didn’t seem like the monster who would play cruel tricks like this and she could tell he wasn’t lying to her about it.

 

“Then how did this happen?” she muttered as she knelt down in front of the smoky pile that was once her breakfast.

 

Asgore mulled silently over this for a while and then glanced at the kid suspiciously. “Well, there is no one but you and me here.”

 

Frisk blinked in confusion at his words before fully processing them. “Wait you’re saying…..I did this!?”


	9. Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks you for your continued support. This chapter was a little harder to write than I thought it would be, but I hope you enjoy it.

Frisk stared at the pile of ash in disbelieve, her thoughts spiraling out of control. “B-But how!? I can’t use magic!” she stammered. There had to be a mistake. She couldn’t be the one who did this!

 

Asgore raised an eyebrow. “Why not? I thought humans are good with magic? Weren’t you taught how to use it?”

 

Frisk shook her head frantically. “No, humans don’t use magic on the surface anymore.” Or at least as far as she knew. “A lot of them would say it doesn’t exist!”

 

“Really?” The king seemed surprised by this and rubbed his beard thoughtfully. “I see. Well then, if what you’re saying is true then maybe the connection we have could be responsible for this.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Perhaps by absorbing my soul, you might have gained some semblance of control over my magic too.” He explained.

 

Frisk blinked in surprised, having never thought of that.  

 

“If you wish, I could teach you how to you use it.” Asgore offered.

 

Frisk flinched. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she stated, gazing down at the smoky pile nervously. She didn’t like the idea of messing with something she had no understanding or control over. What if she ended up setting someone on fire?

 

“I understand that you’re worried, but I assure you it won’t be that bad. Teaching you how to use magic won’t be any different than teaching any other monster.” He said confidently.

 

“I don’t know…” she sighed.

 

Asgore frowned. “Frisk, if we don’t get your magic under control then incidents like this will happen more often,” he added, emphasizing on the last part.

 

“Okay, fine!” She muttered in defeat and turned to him. “What do I need to do?”

 

Asgore smiled and knelt down next to her. “First, you need focus your thoughts and try reaching for your magic. Could you do that?”

 

Brows furrowed, Frisk decided to try. She closed her eyes and focused. It was a lot harder than it sounded since she had no idea what to look for.

 

It took her a bit of time before she felt a tingling sensation within her soul that she never felt before. It was faint, but it was there, pulsing.

 

“Do you feel anything?”

 

“I…I think so,” she said, unsure.

 

Asgore nodded. “Next draw out your magic and direct it to your hand, let it build up there.”

 

Frisk followed his instruction carefully. She tensed up and the hairs on her body stood on end as she felt the electric sensation traveling through her arm. She could now feel her magic buzzing in the air around her fingers like a phantom charge.

 

“Good, now let it out as fire!”

 

Thinking of the fireballs she had seen Asgore summon, Frisk held up her hand and released her magic only to produce a spark of light that vanished almost immediately.

 

“What?” Frisk asked, staring at her hands in disbelieve. What was that!? That was nothing compared to what the monster king does!

 

“Uh….I suppose that was alright for you first attempt.” Asgore said, rubbed the back of head awkwardly. He had not been expecting that kind of result either. Perhaps using magic came easier to monsters since it’s what made up their bodies. “Maybe you should try aga-”

 

The king was cut off by the sound of stepping on a puddle nearby. Someone was coming their way.

 

Fearing the guards had caught up to her, Frisk turned around and sprinted down the tunnel, relying on her memory to find her way through the marsh.

 

After a while, she had passed by some echo flowers and saw something that made her stop in her tracks.

 

A door.

 

 _This wasn’t here before._ Confused, the girl walked closer to the grey door and touched it. It was definitely real. Had she missed it in the other timeline?

 

Well, back then her main goal was to survive and leave the Underground so it should be no surprise that she would miss something like this. _“_ Where does this lead?” Frisk asked the king.

 

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen it before.” Asgore answered as he observed the door curiously.

 

Frisk raised an eyebrow at this. That can’t be right. According to what she heard, Asgore had made a habit of visiting his subjects and checking on them every so often. There was no way he could have missed it too.

 

The child knew she shouldn’t be surprised to come across another anomaly at this point after everything she seen so far, but something about this door in particular felt so….wrong.

 

A part of Frisk was telling her to ignore the door and walk away, but her curiosity was too great. She had to see what was beyond it.

 

She reached for the doorknob and opened the door cautiously, peeking inside to see nothing but blackness. Hesitating, the child stepped into the room leaving the door slightly open. She looked around the seemingly empty room in confusion. Who did this place belong to? Where were they?

 

It wasn’t long until Frisk saw something, an outline in the center of the room. She stepped closer and realized it was a monster, one she hadn’t seen before.

 

He wore a black cloak that blended with the darkness surrounding them. His face was ghostly pale, standing out from everything else here. There were also seemed to be cracks in his face. Was he hurt?

 

Frisk shared a worried look with Asgore before approaching the stranger. “Hello?”

 

The being didn’t respond to her at first, but soon he looked up with pinpricks of light shining in his eye sockets.

**_“Greetings,”_** he said, his voice deep and raspy.

 

Frisk noticed a strange static sound in the air when he spoke, but tried to ignore it. “Hi, I’m frisk.” She then frowned in concern. “What are doing here? Are you okay?”

 

He tilted his head to the side observingly at her before a long smile stretched across his face. ** _“You’re finally here…..I’ve been waiting for you.”_**

 

Taken aback by this, Frisk blinked in confusion. “What do you mean? Who are you?” she asked, feeling uneasy by his words. Who was this monster? How did he know her?

 

 ** _“I am GdsJ7x,”_** He answered, but his words turned to gibberish at the last part.

 

“Frisk, I-I think we should leave now.” Asgore said, sensing something off in the air, but Frisk stood stiffly in front of the monster.

 

The stranger reached his hand out and Frisk’s soul responded, appearing over her chest. His smile somehow stretched wider at the sight of the red glowing soul. **_“Interesting….”_**

 

Her mind was blank. She couldn’t move, her limps were numb as if they had turned to ice. She felt so weak…..so small. There was another voice calling, but it sounded so distant, miles away.

 

Black spots began appearing in the girl’s vision as the stranger slowly began reaching for her soul.

 

“FRISK!”

 

Frisk snapped from her trance at Asgore’s voice and took several steps back, covering her soul with her hands protectively. “I…I gotta go now,” she said nervously, suddenly wary of the monster in front of her and inching away to the door.

 

The stranger’s face grew stern at this. **_“No,”_**

 

Frisk gasped when black tendrils began to creep from the shadows of the room behind him.

 

“Frisk, get out of here!” Asgore exclaimed. Without a second thought, the child turned around and dashed towards the door as the tendrils shot after her.

One managed to grab her ankle causing her to fall over and hit the ground roughly. She cried out as more of them snaked around her legs and began pulling her back to the stranger.

 

She looked up at Asgore desperately. “Help me!”

 

Asgore quickly formed a fire sphere in his hand and flung it at the shadowy tendrils, burning them all away. A loud electronic screech came from the stranger, filling the room and making Frisk cover her ears at the terrible sound.

 

“Hurry!” Asgore muttered urgently.

 

Frisk quickly got back on her feet and dashed towards the door. She could see light peering through it. Come one, almost there. Just a little more.

 

 ** _“STOP!”_** the stranger shouted and Frisk could feel the shadows getting closer and closer to her. She tore the door open and ran out of the room, crashing into someone in her blind panic.

 

“Hey, watch it!”

 

Frisk fell on her back and groaned in pain. Rubbing her sore head, she looked up to see it was Aaron.

 

“Oh it’s you again! Back for another flexing contest?” he asked with grin and then looked confused. “Where did you come from anyway?”

 

Frisk gaped at him. “Didn’t you see? I came out of that-” she glanced behind only to gasp in shock.

 

The door was gone.

 

She slowly walked over and placed her hand where it used to be. Nothing, as if it never existed. She glanced back to see Asgore looking just as baffled as she was.

 

“What are you looking for?” the seahorse monster asked.

 

“Have you seen a door when you got here?” She asked back anxiously.

 

He raised an eyebrow at her. “A door? Well, no.”

 

An ominous feeling filled Frisk and sent a shiver down her spine. “N…Never mind, sorry for crashing into you.” The child muttered and never walked away faster in her life.

 

**\--------**

 

“What was that?” Frisk asked once they were alone again.

 

“I’m not sure.” He admitted. “It could have been illusion magic. Some use it to keep anyone from entering their homes or to protect their valuable possessions. I know a couple of monsters in New Home who could use it.” He answered, looking back at the tunnel they came from.

 

“But nothing in there felt fake,” Frisk argued and Asgore couldn’t deny that. He also couldn’t shake the feeling he had when he saw that monster. Something about him felt…familiar somehow.

 

He then glanced down at Frisk and noticed how tense the child looked. He assumed she was still bothered by what happened and he quickly tried to assure her. “Well, it doesn’t matter now since you got away. Let’s not dwell on it and keep moving, alright?”

 

Frisk gazed at the ground for a while and then nodded. He was right. This wasn’t her first weird encounter in the Underground and probably won’t be the last.

 

_Yes, just forget._

 

The two soon found themselves entering another dark area. Frisk squinted as she tried to make out the path through the darkness.

 

“Hold on,” Asgore narrowed his eyes in concertation and a ball of fire appeared in front of him. “Here,” he said as he kept it floating above them, shining a light in the dark room.

 

“Let’s go,”


	10. Through the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m honestly surprised by all the support you’re giving my fic. Thank you so much!
> 
> Heads up, there is a lot of angst in this chapter.

Frisk sighed in relief once they finally stepped out of the darkness and entered a lit room. Even though Asgore had been providing her with light the entire time, she still felt uneasy to be wandering in the dark.

 

She had kept glancing around frantically, jumping at every sound in fear of the shadows reaching out to grab her or for the mysterious monster in that room to appear again.

 

She was passing by a patch of echo flowers when a loud noise tore through the air and Frisk nearly jumped to the ceiling in fright.

 

Heart pounding in her chest, Frisk glanced down to see it was just her phone ringing. The echo flowers began repeating the cry she made so she marched up ahead to get away from the noise. Her face was flushed in embarrassment and she refused to meet Asgore’s gaze as she fumbled with the device.

 

She had to calm down. There was no reason for her to be this jittery.

 

“H-Hello?”

 

“HELLO, HUMAN! IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” The skeleton’s loud voice greeted her and she had to pull the phone away from her ear. “I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU SINCE OUR DATE AND I GOT WORRIED WHEN YOU HAVEN’T CALLED!”

 

Frisk couldn’t help smiling. “Sorry Papyrus.” She said, realizing that she never spoke to her friend in while.  “I just got….sidetracked.”

 

“WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?”

 

“Somewhere in Waterfall.” She answered without giving away her specific location. While Papyrus was a nice monster, he was still friends with Undyne and might tell of the child’s whereabouts without realizing that she’s being hunted by the fish woman.

 

“ARE YOU LOOKING FOR MR. DREEMURR TOO?”

 

Frisk flinched at that and her grip tightened on the phone. “N-No, I’m just passing by.”

 

“OH, WELL THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I’M DOING! I’M HELPING THE DOGS LOOK FOR HIM IN THE SNOWDIN FOREST. ISN’T THAT COOL!?” he asked excitedly.

 

“That’s…great, Papyrus.” She answered, looking down at the ground.

 

“I SHOULD BE GOING NOW. BYE HUMAN!” he explained. She can imagine a huge smile adoring his face.

 

“Bye,” she murmured before hanging up. She stood there for a while staring at the phone silently.

 

“Frisk?” Asgore muttered, concern clear in his voice.

 

“I’m okay,” she said before stuffing the phone back in her pocket and walking away. Asgore watched worriedly for a moment before flying after her.

 

She continued walking down the damp tunnel until she saw Sans up ahead with a telescope.

 

“hey, kid.” he greeted her with a wave. “I’m actually thinking about getting into the telescope business.” He stated and Frisk repressed a giggle, remembering their "fried snow" exchange.

 

“it’s normally fifty thousand G to use this telescope, but, uh, since I know you, I’d let you use it for free.” He added, placing his hand on the telescope. “how about it?”

 

Frisk remembered how the telescope wasn’t working when she tried it before so she shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m in a hurry to get to Hotland.”

 

“oh….alright,” he said with a shrug, but there was a weird look in his face, similar to the one he gave her when they talked at the entrance of Snowdin. Raising an eyebrow, Frisk decided not dwell on it and began to walk away.

 

“wait,”

 

She stopped and turned to him. “What is it?”

 

The skeleton seemed to be mulling over something for a second and sighed tiredly. “look kid, we need to talk.” He said and the child was a little surprised by the seriousness in his tone. She wasn’t used to him sounding like that.

 

“what’s really going on, kid. what are you hiding?” he asked.

 

The question caught Frisk off guard and she stammered. “I-I’m not-”

 

“don’t say you’re not. I know you weren’t telling me the whole truth back at Grillby’s.” he said, giving her a pointed look.

 

Frisk flinched, but then crossed her arms defensively. “And why do I have to tell you anything? It’s not like you’ve been honest with me either.” She shot back, knowing full well that the skeleton had his own share of secrets.

 

Not wanting to be here anymore, she tried to leave only to feel an unexpected chill through her spine and her limps froze up. She was turned to face the skeleton again, his hand flashing blue.

 

“kid, I’m serious here. there is something weird going on with you and I need you to tell me what it is.” He pressed on, but Frisk was busy staring at his glowing hand.

 

Blue magic.

 

“It was you.” She said as a realization suddenly struck her. “During my fight with Papyrus, it was your magic that kept me from moving.”

 

The way he grimaced at her words only confirmed it. Frisk stared at the monster confused. “Sans, why?” she asked feeling betrayed. Why would he do something like that? Weren’t they friends?

 

Sans sighed and rubbed his skull. “look kid, the last time we met humans using magic it didn’t exactly end well for us as you’ve already seen.” He stated gesturing around them.

 

Not to mention the _other_ thing he knew about the child didn’t help him feel any better about this either.

 

“I’m not gonna make you tell me what’re hiding, kid, but just remember that I’ll be keeping an eye on ya so make sure not to cause any…trouble, alright?” He said and then turned away. “bye,”

 

Frisk watched the skeleton walk away crestfallen and hurt. Anger then coursed through her and she glared at him. “Fine! Go take a nap while I deal with everything like always!” she yelled and went the other direction.

 

The skeleton stood there momentarily and glanced back at the disappearing form of the child before taking a shortcut back home.

 

**\------**

Undyne meanwhile sprinted through cavern in her armored suit, the sound of her heavy footsteps echoing in the walls. She jumped onto a large rock and looked around, her eye searching the area thoroughly for any sign of the human.

 

After chasing the kid into the depths of the Waterfall, she had to dismiss the dogs and send them back to Snowdin. They shouldn’t be away from their stations for too long. Which left her with the task of hunting down the human and getting the seventh soul.

 

Undyne growled and grumbled under her breath. Why did the human have to show up now of all times?

 

There was already unrest in the Underground after Asgore’s disappearance and now the threat of a human will make things worse. She had to find and dispose of her as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the marsh was huge and there was so many paths for the human to take, so many places to hide in.

 

Wasting no time, she jumped off the rock and came across a series of tunnel. She looked between them for a moment unsure of where to go before deciding to take the one on the left.

 

“Hey!”

 

The fish woman stopped in her tracks and glanced behind her in confusion, but she saw no one.

 

“Down here!”

 

She finally looked down and froze up.

 

Right in front of her was a yellow flower with a face, smiling and waving a leaf at her. “Howdy, I’m Flowey the flower!”

 

“What the-” Undyne knelt down in front of the odd monster, at a loss for words. She knew monsters came in all shapes and sizes, but she didn’t expect to come across a _talking flower_. She looked around the area before gazing down at it perplexed. Why was this thing here anyway? It didn’t look like it belonged in Waterfall at all.

 

“You’re the captain of the Royal Guard, right?” Flowey asked, tilting his head to the side.

 

“Yeah, what about it?” she asked gruffly.

 

“Oh it’s great you’re here then. I just saw a human pass by.” He stated.

 

“What!?” You saw the human?” she muttered in surprise, giving the plant her full attention now.

 

“Why yes! I-I think I saw her carrying a weapon too!” the flower answered timidly, shaking in fear.

 

Undyne gritted her teeth and stood right up. “Where did she go?” She asked and then watched as the flower disappeared into the ground. “Hey, where are you-”

 

“This way!” Flowey popped out of the ground and gestured with a leaf to a different path. “Follow me!” he said eagerly.

 

A little too eagerly considering what they were doing.

 

The captain wasn’t sure if she could really trust this flower, but she didn’t want to lose a chance of capturing the human before they left Waterfall so she decided to follow him.

 

**\------**

 

Frisk stormed down the tunnel with a scowl on her face, miffed and wanting nothing more than to get as far away as possible from the short skeleton. How could he trust her so little? How could he use his magic on her like that? He was supposed to be her friend!

 

“F-Frisk, slow down!” Asgore stuttered as he tried to catch up to her.

 

The girl snapped from her angry thoughts and slowed her pace a bit. “Sorry,” she said, but there was still an edge in her voice.

 

Asgore frowned. “Frisk, I understand you’re upset with Sans and you may be right to do so, but I’m sure hurting you wasn’t his intention. Perhaps he’s just worried. ”

 

Frisk huff. The king could be right, but that doesn’t excuse what the skeleton did to her. She hadn’t hurt anybody since she arrived so he had no reason not to trust her!

 

It was then when silence fell between them again that she heard something.

 

“Do you hear that?” she asked him. The two glanced back to the path they came from and listened closely. There was a faint noise coming from behind them. It sounded heavy, metallic.

 

The child’s blood ran cold. It was a sound she knew very well.

 

She only got a glimpse of an eye in the dark before the ground and the walls of the small tunnel suddenly began to glow cyan. It took a split second for Frisk to realize what was happening and without a second thought she bolted down the path as energy spears shot from every direction.

 

She scrambled frantically as she tried to outrun the assault. The sound of spear tearing through the air behind her caused her to run faster. What was Undyne doing here? How did she find her!?

 

A spear suddenly shot from the wall and made a cut on her leg, making her yelp in pain. She had no idea how she managed to continue running despite the burning pain in her leg.

 

She finally reached the end of the tunnel and came across a bridge. She gazed at the open way ahead and bit her lip. If she went that way she will easily be spotted by Undyne.

 

She walked over to the edge of the bridge and seeing it wasn’t too high she began to climb down. She glanced at the ground below nervously before letting go.

 

Wincing from the fall, she quickly went to hide in the shadow under the bridge. She curled up and stayed quiet as the sound of footsteps came near. Her heart was beating violently in her chest and even her weak shallow breaths felt too loud at the moment.

 

She could imagine the fish woman searching the bridge wondering where the human have gone and Frisk hoped she wouldn’t think of looking under it.

 

Asgore stayed near the child, waiting anxiously for Undyne to leave. Several moments had passed before the captain’s footstep slowly grew distant.

 

The king moved out of the shade and for the first time since he woke up like this, Asgore was glad to be invisible. He flew up to the bridge and looked for the captain, but saw no sign of her anywhere.

 

Asgore sighed, beyond relieved that they were safe now. He quickly flew down to tell the child. “Frisk, it’s alright. She’s gone.” He said, but was met with silence. The child remained in her spot and wouldn’t look at him.

 

“Frisk?” he moved closer to the human who made no sign of hearing him. “Frisk, we shouldn’t stay here any longer. We have to leave-”

 

“No,”

 

Asgore froze up at that. “What?”

 

“I don’t want to get out.” She said quietly.

 

The monster grew concerned and flew over to her. “What’s wrong? Is it your wound?” he asked worriedly.

 

Frisk hesitated for a while before she spoke again, voice trembling. “I’m…I’m just tired of all this. I-I’m trying really hard to fix everything, but no matter what I do something always goes wrong!”

 

The entire kingdom is at the brink of despair and it’s all because of her. She tried her best to stay true to the original timeline, but something unexpected was thrown her way at every turn.

 

This wasn’t like her first time in the Underground. Back then, her main concern back then was to stay alive. Now the pressure of saving the kingdom, Sans’ distrust and the guilt of her mistake weighted on her.

 

It’s too much. _It’s just too much!_

 

“I want everything to just stop!” she buried her face in her sleeves and sobbed.

 

Asgore felt his heart ache at the sight. He was reminded of the time he woke up and found her crying on that cliff. No matter what was happening, she always seemed so strong and resilient that he sometimes forgotten she was still a child.

 

He could hear her words echo in his mind in his own tired voice.

 

_I want everything to just stop._

 

The king knelt down in front of her and placed his hand over her head. He knew she couldn’t feel his touch, but he hoped she would appreciate the gesture. He made sure their eyes met as he spoke.

 

“Frisk, I know everything feels hard right now, but I think you’ll pull through this….even if you don’t think so. I’ve met many humans in the past, but you’re the most determined one I’ve seen.” He said softly. “I won’t give up you so don’t give up on yourself.”

 

The child stared at him for a while unsure and then whipped away her tears with her sleeve. She stood up and gave him a slow nod.

 

“Are you ready to head out now?” he asked carefully.

 

“Yeah,” Frisk answered as she stepped out of the shade with him. She looked up at the ledge and, feeling more determined than before, she began to climb up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I decided to start drawing a scene from a chapter every now and then. Here’s the link. http://extremelight9.tumblr.com/image/162461386946


	11. Taking Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I had a blast writing this and you'll see why once you read it.

Asgore sighed as they wandered into another hallway. If his memory served then they should have be near at end of Waterfall by now.

 

He froze up when the child stopped walking suddenly. He looked up ahead and squinted to see something standing at the far end of the hallway. He couldn’t tell what or who it was at first.

 

As Frisk stepped closer, Asgore immediately recognized the horned statue and his shoulders sagged. A single ray of light was shining down on the old thing. It looked sad and lonely as water fell from above over it like rain. Seeing it like this made his heart sink.

 

He slowly walked over and stood in front of the statue towering a bit over it. He reached out and placed a transparent hand over its head letting out a dejected sigh and wishing he found the time to tend to it more often so it wouldn’t have ended up in this state.  

 

Suddenly, a flash of color appeared at the corner of his eye and when he looked over he saw Frisk holding a bright red umbrella. Before he could ask, she surprised him by walking over and giving it to the statue.

 

Asgore blinked in surprise when a soft melody began to play from within the statue, a very familiar one. He felt his eyes mist over and glanced down at the child who was giving him a sad smile.

 

“Thank you,” he said softly as they stood there for a while. Once it was time for them to leave, the king sent the memento one last glance, trying to not feel too sad about leaving it behind. Maybe someday he’ll return and see it again.

 

It was unlikely considering where they were going, but it was a nice thought nonetheless.

 

**\-------**

“So, one day we had a project where we had to take care of a flower. The king - we had to call him “Mr. Dreemurr”- volunteered to donate his own flowers. He came to school and began teaching us about responsibility and stuff!”

 

Asgore hummed as the monster kid continued chatting with Frisk, recalling the memory with fondness.

 

“Yo, imagine how cool it would be if Undyne came to school and beat up all the teachers!” the kid said and Asgore flinched, staring down at him in horror. The young monster frowned and seemed to consider his words. “Actually, I don’t think she’ll beat them up. She’s too cool to hurt an innocent!”

 

Asgore sighed in relief and rolled his eyes. Frisk meanwhile remained silent during the entire trek, giving only brief nods or grunts when addressed.

 

Soon enough, they stepped out of the tunnel and the rain came to an abrupt stop. They looked over to see the castle in the distance, taking in the sight. Frisk’s grip on the umbrella tightened. They were halfway there. Just a little more and it will be over.

 

After getting some help from Monster Kid to climb up the ledge, the two continued heading down the path until they reached another platform area. Asgore noticed the nervous look on Frisk’s face and tensed up, not knowing what to expect.

 

He watched as she began moving forward again and trailed right behind her, looking down at the dark abyss below anxiously. He gulped. They’ll be alright. The child should just be careful where to step and they should fine-

 

The two yelped as the platform began pulsing with blue energy, surrounding them and blocking any chance to retreat. Spears suddenly shoot up from platform and the girl could almost feel the hot energy compressed within them.

 

Down on the platform below, the menacing figure of Undyne stepped out of the shadows and began the onslaught.

**\------**

Asgore grunted and slowly opened his eyes as his surroundings came into focus. His entire body felt sore for some reason. Grimacing, he tried to remember what happened. They passed by that statue…talked to that monster child…found a bridge…Undyne came and-

 

Asgore’s eyes widen. “Frisk?” he called out, his voice weak and rough. “Frisk!”

 

He tried standing up and yelped as his head throbbed. He pressed a hand to his forehead and winced in pain.

 

And that’s when he realized something was wrong. His face felt surprisingly smooth and squishy. Slowly, Asgore looked down at his hand and gasped.

 

He had a human hand!

 

Panicking, the king gazed around at the rest of his body to see his armor, his cape and even his fur was gone. All he could see now were the familiar stripped shirt and blue pants. The king’s mind went blank. He was in the child’s body!

 

His mind struggled to process what happened to him. A screeching mess of shock, anxiety and confusion churned in his stomach and he began to freak out.

 

How did this happen? Why!?  

 

Asgore took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. Panicking won’t do him any good right now. He tried to distract himself by looking at his surroundings. He didn’t recognize the place. He could tell they were still in waterfall, but he wasn’t sure where exactly. Piles of garbage surrounded him so it was possible that he was near the dump.

 

He then looked down and saw he had landed on a patch of golden flowers. They must have cushioned his fall. He couldn’t help smiling as he moved his over their petals, remembering the ones in his garden.

 

A sudden jolt of pain made him gasp and when he looked at his arm he saw a tear in the sweater sleeve stained with red.

 

Asgore wasn’t the one who was hit; Frisk was, but he could feel the phantom pain of the Undyne’s spear striking him. The king didn’t know much about how the human body works, but he knew a wound like this should be treated immediately. Losing too much blood is dangerous for humans.

 

With a loud grunt, Asgore managed to pull himself up and began limping away while clutching his injured arm. He needed to find some monster food right away.

 

He walked through the thigh-high water far longer than he would rather wish, his wet clothes clinging to his skin and weighing him down. He tried his best to keep the wounded arm from touching the water as he continued his trek through the tunnel.

 

A dark corridor was at the end of the area leading out of the water, but there a chance of him finding nothing there to heal his arm with.

 

Asgore glanced around and hesitantly began looking around. Maybe he’ll find something here. After searching for a while, Asgore came across an old cooler floating in the water and opened it to find a colorful package inside it. He took it out and inspected the item.  

 

“Freeze-dried space food bar.” He read out loud with a raised brow. He wasn’t sure about eating something that was in there for an unknown amount of time, but the pain in his arm was getting worse so he quickly unwrapped it.

 

Hesitating, he slowly took a bite out of the bar and chewed on it quietly before forcing himself to swallow. Despite his reluctance, he could feel the pain in his arm and the rest of his body lessening.

 

He forced himself to eat the rest of the bar as the pain in his arm became a dull throb. Asgore sighed. Now the danger of bleeding out was gone, he finally found time to think about their…..situation.  

 

It felt weird to have a solid form again. He had went on for days without feeling things such as pain, fatigue or hunger so being able to right now was a little disorienting.

 

He brought his hands closer to his face and stared at them curiously. They were tiny in comparison to his and the lack of fur on them felt even weirder.

 

Speaking of tiny, Asgore glanced around and realized with a start just how huge everything seemed now. He was so used to be towering over everyone around him.

 

Asgore tried to think of a way to undo this, but he couldn’t think of anything. He had no idea how he took over the human’s body in the first place!

 

The thought of this being a permanent thing terrified him and he pushed it far at the back of his mind.

 

Looking back at the corridor, Asgore decided to mull over this more when he was on dry land. He only managed a few steps when heard a splash coming from behind him. He glanced back only to see nothing. Another splash snatched his attention up ahead to find himself staring at an angry dummy.

 

“Oh, hello-”

 

“Too intimidated to fight me, huh?” he scoffed. “I am the ghost inside the dummy. My cousin used to live inside a dummy too, until YOU came along!” he spat, making Asgore flinch at his harsh tone.

 

“When you talked to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat, but the things you said to them…Horrible! Shocking! Unbelievable!” the dummy snarled.

 

“W-What?” Asgore shook his head, trying to defend himself. When did that ever happen? Was he talking about the dummy in the Ruins? He didn’t remember Frisk saying anything mean to it. Toriel wouldn’t have approved of that if she did.

 

“It spook them out of their dummy. Human, I’ll scare your soul out of your body!” the dummy muttered and Asgore felt the human soul being pulled out of his chest. It was an odd feeling, being able to feel his soul floating over his chest.

 

Asgore bit his lips and raised his hands defensively, trying to defuse the situation. “You must be mistaken. I haven’t said anything bad to your cousin.”

 

“Lies, lies, lies!” the dummy exclaimed as he summoned magic bullets and aimed them at him.

 

Asgore gasped and barely had the time to jump out of the way. “C-Calm down, I don’t want to fight you!”

 

“Pitiful! Pitiful! Pitiful!” he shouted back and fired more bullets at him. Asgore yelped and scrambled across the area to get away. He cried out when one attack hit his side and sent him tumbling into the water.

 

Asgore was never a good dodger and he knew that. He was nowhere as good as Frisk and adding the fact that he wasn’t used to moving in this small body made it even harder. He quickly stood up and ducked as another one came from behind him hitting the dummy instead.

 

“Ah! You dummies, watch where you’re aiming your magic attacks!” he huffed.

 

Asgore blinked and recalled how ghost monsters are immune to physical attacks and can be hurt only by magic. Well, since he couldn’t reason with this dummy, maybe he could use that to end this fight.

 

“I’ll defeat you and take your souls. I’ll then be able to cross the barrier. I will stand in the window of a fancy store and everything I want will be mine!” the dummy chuckled smugly.

 

The monster’s ramblings were too distracting and Asgore tried to ignore them so he could focus on his attacks. After all, he didn’t know how many more hits he can take. More bullets were sent his way and he ran around the room leading the dummy to hit himself again.

 

“Hey, dummies!” Several tiny dummies appeared at his command in front of him. “Remember how I said not to shoot at me? Failures! You’re all fired! You’re all going to be replaced!”

 

Asgore gaped. Was he…..talking to his own magic?

 

The mini army disappeared nonetheless and the dummy began laughing. “Now you’ll see my true power!”

 

His true power was apparently shooting more dummies along with missiles after him. Avoiding these was harder than the ones. By the time he managed to send the attacks back at him, Asgore was panting for breath.

 

“Ow, these guys are even worse than the other guys! Who cares, who cares, who cares!” the dummy shrieked as cotton kept falling from him. “I don’t need friends! I’ve got knives!”

 

A knife suddenly slipped out of trash pile and flew over next to the crazy dummy making Asgore pale. Asgore made a rather…undignified noise as the knife flew towards him and he ducked down, feeling it zip over him. When he looked up again, the dummy was floating in the air awkwardly.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

The dummy huffed. “I’m…..out of knives, but it doesn’t matter!” he snapped. “You can’t hurt me and I can’t hurt you! You’ll be stuck fighting me….forever. Forever! Forever!” he broke into maniacal laughter and Asgore wanted to groan, wanting this be over.

 

“What the- what is this? Acid rain?” the dummy muttered as the “rain” kept falling onto him. “Forget it! I’m out of here.” The dummy flew away, leaving Asgore alone.

 

A familiar white ghost floated down in front of him, looking upset. “Sorry….I interrupted you, didn’t I? As soon as I showed up, your friend left.” He whined.

 

Asgore smiled once he recognized him as the owner of the snail farm nearby. “It’s alright, no need to worry.”

 

“Oh, well…I’m going home now…umm feel free to come with’ if you want to, but I understand if you’re busy. No pressure, just thought I’d offer.” He said before disappearing as well.

 

Asgore sighed in relief and stepped into the corridor, finally leaving the dump. After walking through water littered with trash for so long, being on dry land again felt great.

 

He didn’t get to savor the moment too long as his body began trembling suddenly and he felt something struggling within him. Just then, an invisible push knocked Asgore away and when he opened his eyes again he found himself staring down at Frisk’s body. It took him a moment to realize he was back in his transparent form.

 

Frisk groaned and rubbed her head. “What happened? How did we get here?” she asked, looking around in confusion before turning to him.

 

“Uh….I may he have took over your body for a while.” He answered awkwardly. Frisk stared at him blankly for a minute.

 

“WHAT!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will probably be the last in Waterfall.


	12. Questions Unanswered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks for all the positive feedback. I’m glad you guys are enjoying this story so far!

Once Asgore finished explaining everything that happened after he woke on bed of flowers in her body, the child was baffled and even slightly unsettled. How was that even possible? Could it happen again? The idea of losing control of her body all of a sudden made a shudder run through her.

 

It took her a while to calm down. She tried to push the incident at the back of her mind, hoping that was a onetime thing and nothing more.

 

The king then mentioned Napstablook’s invitation to her and the two headed to his house. The timid ghost looked surprised at the fact that she came over and stepped aside to let her in. He then began showing her around.

 

“Sometimes I like to lay down on the ground and feel like garbage after a good meal. It’s a family tradition. Would…would like to join me?” he asked quietly.

 

“Sure,” Frisk said and lay down with him, placing her arms over her stomach.

 

She glanced over to see Asgore attempting to do the same, but he let out a startled yelp when his body began sinking into the floor. She held back a snort and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.

 

Once they were done, Frisk decided it was time to leave. She made her way out the house passing by the snail farm.

 

“Hey, um, wait.” Napstablook called out and disappeared for a moment. Frisk exchanged a confused look with the king. The ghost soon returned with a plastic container. He held it out to her timidly. “I want you to have this…I mean take it if you want to and you can say no if you don’t like it…”

 

Frisk raised an eyebrow and took the container, removing the lid curiously. She froze up.

 

It was filled with snails. Lots of them.

 

“Mmm, they look tasty,” Asgore said next to her.

 

Frisk shuddered and wanted to groan in disgust, but she couldn’t since Napstablook was still watching her. “T-Thanks, Napstablook,” She muttered with a strained smile as she stored it in the dimensional box.

 

“Oh…you’re welcome,” he replied awkwardly.

 

“Well, I better be going. See you later,” she said and turned around to leave. Asgore was about to follow her when he noticed the ghost’s stare. At first, he thought he was looking at Frisk, but he soon realized he was actually looking at _him!_

 

“Can…can you see me?” Asgore asked in disbelieve and a little hope.

 

Napstablook frowned and he suddenly looked….sad. Without answering, the ghost disappeared again.

 

“W-wait!” Asgore muttered, but he was already gone leaving him alone in the clearing.

 

“Asgore?” He heard Frisk call out from behind him.

 

The king stared at the space where the ghost was a moment ago and sighed before flying after her.

 

**\-----**

“Take care, kid!” Gerson muttered, waving at her from behind the counter.

 

Frisk saved away the items she bought and soon noticed the lack of presence beside her. When she looked back, she saw the king trailing behind her quietly, staring at his transparent hands.

 

“What’s wrong?” she asked him.

 

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing you should be concerned about,” He said, forcing a small smile on his face. The child was already troubled with what’s been happening in the Underground and he didn’t want her to worry about him as well.

 

Frisk stared at him for a moment looking unconvinced, but she didn’t say anything and continued walking down the damp hallway.

After wandering deeper into the caves, encountering Monster Kid once more and saving him from falling off the bridge, the two found themselves staring up at the threatening figure on top of the cave, glaring down at them expectantly. Frisk gulped nervously and turned to the king who looked uneasy for what he knew was about to happen, but he nodded at her anyway.

 

Steeling herself, Frisk stepped forward and called out. “I’m ready, Undyne!”

 

The fish woman smirked and summoned a spear in her hand. “That’s more like it. No more running away!” She jumped from on top of the cave and landed on the ground, pointing her spear directly at the child. “En guarde!”

 

Frisk’s soul was drawn out of her chest and she tensed up. Undyne’s spear began to glow and with a single sweep, the three of them were surrounded by a green barrier, blocking any chance for her to make a run for it.

 

“As long as you’re green, you can’t escape!” Undyne stated pointing at Frisk’s now green soul. “Unless you learn to face the danger head-on, you won’t last a second against me!”

 

Undyne then summoned a spear in her other hand before tossing it to Frisk who yelped and caught it nervously. The fish monster’s deadly grin dropped a little and titled her head to the side in confusion. “Hey, what happened to your hair? It wasn’t like that earlier.” She pointed out, noticing there was more white than brown on her head now.

 

Frisk sighed inwardly. This was probably the third time someone asked her about that and she was getting of tired of having to repeat the same answer. “It’s nothing-”

 

“Oh, I see. It’s part of your magical transformation, isn’t it?” Undyne cut her off, her sharp grin returning full force.

 

“W-what?” Frisk stammered.

 

“I’ve seen this before in Dr. Alphys’ human history films!” The captain added excitedly.

 

_What is she talking about!?_

 

“I’ve been waiting to fight one of your kind for a long time so give all you got!” she exclaimed before taking a stance. “Here I come!” Without hesitation, the fish woman charged at the girl and swung her weapon.

 

Luckily, Frisk had gotten better at this than when she did it the first time and managed to block the attack just in time, the force of the strike making her arms tremble a little. Undyne continued attacking, never breaking a sweat. Frisk quickly ducked and stepped aside to avoid being impaled.

 

“What is wrong with you!? Fight back!” Undyne snarled impatiently, but Frisk kept blocking and trying to distance herself from her opponent.

 

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Undyne threw the spear in her hand at Frisk who barely had the time to jump out of the way of the projectile. “For many years we dreamed of a happy ending. I won’t let you take it away from us. We won’t be denied from the freedom we deserve, especially by someone as cowardly as you!”

 

Having ran out of patience, she summoned several energy spears and aimed them at her chest. Asgore immediately stepped in and raised his hand, releasing a fire blast that burned them away. He blinked at the unexpected power behind his attack.

 

He looked down at the fire in his hand and was shocked by the change in it. The flames were now red and they seemed to be hotter than usual if the bright glow was any indication.

 

His magic somehow grew stronger, but how? This never happened before, at least not like this. He glanced back at the child behind him in wonder.

 

Instead of being angry at her attack failing, Undyne looked beyond thrilled. “Finally!” she muttered. The fish woman then began sending wave after wave of spears at Frisk who jumped and blocked most of them, ending up with a couple of scratches and slightly out of breath.   

 

Frisk glanced down to see her soul was red again. She then looked up to see Undyne preparing another attack. Without a second thought, Frisk dropped the spear and sprinted towards the cave entrance.

 

“Hey, get back here!” Undyne growled and chased after her. Frisk ran as fast as she could through the tunnel and grimaced as a wave of hot air hit her face. Unfortunately for them, Frisk was never a fast runner and just like back in Snowdin, Undyne slowly caught up to her. A spear burst out of the ground in front of the child making her to stop in her tracks.

 

“Quit running away!” Undyne shouted as she launched a glowing spear directly at her soul.

 

“No!” Asgore formed a fire sphere in his hand and sent it in the direction of the spear. The two magical attacks collided and the force of the blast was enough to knock Frisk off her feet and send her tumbling away. When she looked up, she saw Undyne marching towards her with a victorious smirk.

 

“Time to die, punk!” She muttered and raised her spear up, ready to deliver the finishing strike.

 

Frisk cried out and brought her arms up on instinct. Something within her suddenly flared to life and a wall of red flames burst out of the ground causing the fish woman to back away in surprise.

 

Frisk lay there staring at the flames in shock. _Did…did I do that?_

 

“Frisk, go!” Asgore’s voice snapped her out of her shock. She quickly pushed herself up and scrambled to get away. 

 

Undyne growled as the heat from the flames kept her from moving forward. There was no way she get past this and the punk was getting further away. She narrowed her eyes and raised her spear, aiming at the fleeing human. It would be a direct shot. She leaned back, ready to put an end to that-

 

Suddenly, her body stiffened and the hand holding the spear shook. Undyne blinked, not knowing what came over her. She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the spear again. What was wrong with her? She was so close. The human wouldn’t see it coming. This was her chance to fix all their problems!

 

The human suddenly looked back at her and Undyne couldn’t explain it, but something about the sight of the kid running away like this, about the look she was giving her felt familiar….somehow. It made no sense, none at all, but it made her hesitate in throwing the spear.

 

When Frisk saw this, she looked confused briefly at her before she disappeared into the dark tunnel.

 

Even when the flames died down, Undyne made no attempt to pursue her.

 

**\--------**

 

Frisk ran down the tunnel as the air around her grew warmer by the second. It wasn’t long until she had to stop to catch her breath, whipping the sweat from her forehead.

 

She then glanced back at the tunnel expecting Undyne to show up at any second, but the sound of her heavy footsteps can’t be heard in the distance so she assumed she was safe for now.

 

What was happening back there anyway? Frisk was sure that fire wall wouldn’t have kept Undyne there for long so why wasn’t she coming after her right now? She recalled the unreadable look on Undyne’s face when she was aiming at her and wondered what made the warrior hesitate back then.

 

“Frisk, are you harmed?” Asgore asked her.

 

Frisk glanced down at the scratches in her hands and legs with a frown. “I’ll be okay,” she said. It was nothing some rest and monster food can’t fix. “What about you? Your magic looked…..different back there.”

 

Asgore summoned a fireball in his hand and stared at it thoughtfully. “Perhaps….perhaps the power of your soul made my magic stronger.”

 

Frisk blinked at this. “Is that possible?”

 

“It’s the best explanation I could think of at the moment.” Asgore sighed and dismissed the fireball. “We best be on our way. If we wait too long someone might come after us.”

 

Frisk nodded and began walking again, passing by a familiar huge sign.

 

_Welcome to Hotland._

 

She hurried down the path until she reached the end of the tunnel and passed through.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The concept of soul absorption and the possibilities that come with it is a very interesting one. Anyway, we’re finally done with Waterfall. I might take a short break from writing this fic before starting Hotland.


	13. Premonitions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I’m finally back with a new chapter. Sorry for not updating in a while, but I’ve been feeling down for the last few weeks. Since I’m feeling a little better now, I decided to start writing again!

** **

Frisk and Asgore made their way out of the cave. The king noticed her glancing behind her every now and then, probably expecting the warrior to show up at any second, but there was no sign of her anywhere.

 

Asgore then saw an empty station nearby and flew over towards it in confusion. “Isn’t this supposed to be one of Sans’? I wonder where he could have gone...”

 

Frisk huffed from behind him and Asgore winced, remembering their encounter with the skeleton back in Waterfall.

 

“Let’s just go,” She said passing by the station without giving it a glance and headed over to the bridge. She filled a cup from the water cooler and drank it before continuing on until a large structure came into view.

 

The Lab.

 

Frisk frowned thoughtfully and then an idea hit her. “Dr. Alphys….of course!” She exclaimed, turning to Asgore who blinked at her.

 

“Huh?”

 

“She’s the royal scientist, isn’t she? She must know of a way to get your soul out of my body!” She explained. Dr. Alphys was really smart. There had to be something in her lab that could help them in their predicament.

 

Asgore hesitated, unsure of what to say. Despite the lingering doubt at the back of his mind, he wanted to believe that Frisk might be right, that there was a way for him to get his body back. Then everything could go back to the way it used to be. He never admitted it to Frisk, but he missed eating food, drinking tea in his garden and talking to his subjects instead of being an unseen observer all the time.

 

“Alright,” He muttered with a nod, floating after her into the dark building.

 

“Hello?” She called out. For a while there was nothing, but the sound of the child’s footsteps. Her eyes searched the dark room for any sign of the scientist. She had to be here somewhere.

 

Suddenly, someone flipped the switch and light burst all around them. Frisk blinked and then relaxed at the sight of the lizard monster. She looked startled to see Frisk.

 

“O-Oh, you’re here! I…I didn’t expect you to get here so soon! I haven’t cleaned this place yet or showered and…and….” She gulped and tried calming herself down before giving the child a nervous smile. “H-Hello, I’m Dr. Alphys. Asgore’s royal scientist.”

 

“I’m Frisk,” She said and then frowned when she noticed how nervous the scientist was, well, more than usual. “Are you okay?”

 

“Y-yes, don’t worry!” Alphys answered, but the quiver in her voice was not lost on Frisk and was she….sweating? Something was wrong here. The doctor didn’t act like this when they first met. She had been so excited to meet a human for the first time back then, but now she seemed almost uneasy for some reason.

 

Alphys cleared her throat. “Anyway, I-I’m know that you’re heading to Asgore’s castle and I w-would like to help you out. I can guide you through Hotland and get you there safe and unharmed!” She said and then winced. “But….there just one teensy problem.”

 

Asgore raised an eyebrow, wondering what it could be. When the doctor explained to them about the murderous robot running loose, he was instantly filled with dread. He recalled Alphys mentioning a while go about a project she was working on, but he hadn’t been expecting anything like that!

 

“F-Frisk, we need to get out of here-” Asgore began, but was cut off by a loud bang. He jumped and glanced around in confusion. Where did that come from?

 

“Oh no,” Alphys murmured.

 

Asgore then saw cracks forming on the wall as more bangs followed. It wasn’t long until the wall finally crumbled and out of the dust clouds, Mettaton stepped out with his mike.

 

“Oh, yes!” He exclaimed.

 

Asgore gasped and brought both hands forward, readying his magic for the moment the robot will attack them, but then bright lights suddenly flashed in the room and confetti began falling around them.

 

“Huh?” He glanced around in puzzlement and heard a sigh coming from Frisk.

 

“Welcome, beauties, to today’s quiz show!” Mettaton muttered dramatically, pressing a button on his front and pre-recorded applause sounded from within him. “Oh boy, I can already tell it’s going to be a great show!” 

 

Asgore lowered his hands at a loss of what’s going on. Was this supposed to be the “human killing machine” the doctor just told them about?

 

Frisk groaned and went to stand on the spotlight, knowing that she can’t escape this now.

 

“Alright, let’s begin!” Mettaton said, unfazed by her lack of enthusiasm. “What’s the prize for answering correctly?”

 

The questions proceeded like before. Frisk managed to answer most of the questions with ease and occasionally got help from Alphys when she couldn’t remember the answer to certain ones.

 

“You seemed to be getting all the correct answers easily, a little _too_ easily.” Mettaton noted and turned to the doctor. “Alphys, Alphys, Alphys. You aren’t helping our contestant out, are you?” He asked waging a finger in the air.

 

Alphys flinched and stuttered nervously.

 

“Oh you should have told me! Well, here is a question you’ll be sure to know the answer to!” He stated, a little too eagerly. “Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?” He asked and Alphys’ eyes widen. She began waving wildly at Frisk.

 

Remembering her random guess back in the first timeline, Frisk quickly answered without thinking. “King Asgore,” She said and immediately regret that when she remembered that _Asgore was standing right next to her!_

 

“Let me present you with a question. Why would Dr. Alphys outfit an amusement robot such as I…..with brutal anti-human capabilities?” Mettaton asked.

 

_Oh no._

 

“Simple! To impress Mr. Asgore Dreemurr, of course! Or as Alphys calls him….. _Mr. Dreamy_.”

 

“What!?” Asgore blinked in surprise while Alphys’ face turned several shades of red and she buried it into her hands.

 

While Mettaton continued with his teasing, Frisk wanted to disappear right then and there. _What have I done!?_

 

“But now with Dr. Alphys helping you…..there is no dramatic tension!” The robot huffed. “But! This was just the pilot episode. Next up, more drama! More romance! More bloodshed!”

 

He then turned to them. “Until next time, Darlings. Toodles!” He muttered and was gone immediately.

 

The two stood in awkward silence for a moment before turning to each other. “Well, that was something.” Alphys said flustered, adjusting her glasses. “The last question…he wasn’t supposed that ask that one...”

 

“Sorry about….you know.” Frisk said awkwardly, meaning it in more ways than one. She glanced over briefly to Asgore who still seemed to be trying to process what just transpired.  

 

“Oh, it’s fine. D-don’t worry!” She replied.

 

Now that they were alone again, Frisk decided it was time to finally ask her. “Hey, Alphys. Can I ask you something?”

 

Alphys seemed taken aback by this. “S-sure, what is it?”

 

“It’s about souls. I read somewhere that when a monster absorbs a human soul they become _really_ strong, but what will happen when a human absorbs a monster’s? I really wanna know.” She tried to keep her tone as casual as possible so the doctor won’t become suspicious of her. After all, she was a human asking about the possibilities that come from absorbing monster souls.

 

Alphys blinked and bit her lips anxiously, looking unsure of how to answer. “W-well, the human will likely gain some of the monster’s powers, but I’m not sure to what extent or what changes could happen to them. I doubt it will be the s-same result though since human souls are much more powerful than ours and can last a lot longer on their own without a host,” She answered.

 

“Oh really? Well, what if you don’t want to keep the soul anymore? What would you do then?” Frisk pressed on.

 

Alphys frowned and seemed to ponder over this. “I can’t really say. I-I haven’t met a monster who absorbed a soul before, but I think there is a way to release it,” She stated and Frisk gave the monster her full attention. “I heard that it’s possible to take power from another monster’s soul to sustain your own, but you should careful with how much you take from them.”

 

Alphys’ voice grew more uneasy. “T-this method _could_ work if you tried using it to extract a second soul from inside someone, b-but it’s not really……safe.”

 

“What do you mean?” Frisk asked.

 

“If it isn’t done r-right and something goes wrong, it could fracture the host’s soul or worse. Y-you could…..die.”

 

Frisk’s eyes widen and blood drained from her face. She could lose her life? What about the Save Points? Wouldn’t they help her?

 

Would she die permanently?

 

She could see Asgore’s horrified expression at the corner of her eye. He shook his head frantically at her, clearly not wanting to go through with that, especially if it put her own life on line.

 

“I could do s-some more research about it. I might find something else in the books I have if you still want to learn more,” Alphys said.

 

“Thanks Alphys….” Frisk replied, trying to regain her composure.

 

“Now, how about I give you m-my phone number? Then if you need my help….I…” Her eyes widen the child took out her phone. “Wait, where did you get this! It’s _ancient_!” Alphys cried out as she held it in her hands. “It doesn’t even have texting! Wait a second, please!”

 

“Hey, um, Alphys?” Frisk called out, causing her to stop in her tracks.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Would it be okay if I rest here for a while?” She asked.

 

“Oh, of course. I don’t m-mind,” She said hastily before hurrying into another room.

 

Frisk raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior and then headed to the upper floor. Seeing no couches or chairs nearby, she sat down on the floor and sighed tiredly. Running through Waterfall had really worn her out.

 

Her mind then drifted back to what Alphys said. She had been hoping the scientist would have the solution to their problem, but now they were back to square one. Even though she had promised her that she would search more on the matter, Frisk didn’t put much hope that she would find something.

 

And then there was the problem with her magic. It’s been a while since they found out about it and she had yet to get it to do what she wants!

 

She now knew better than to expect everything to go exactly like it did in her first journey to the castle. There was a new danger thrown at her in every turn and she had no idea what awaited her ahead. She couldn’t go back out there when she can’t literally use magic to save her life. She’s going to need all help she could get if she wanted to make it there again.

 

It was then a new thought entered her mind and it got her thinking. 

 

“Hey, Asgore?” She called out and he appeared next to her. 

 

“What is it, Frisk?”

 

“I need you to help me control my magic,” Frisk said.

 

Asgore blinked, confused. “But how am I going to do that?”

 

“I want you to take over my body again,” She explained, placing a hand over chest.

 

Asgore gaped at her. “Wait, I thought you hated that!”

 

Oh, she did. The idea of someone else using her body still made her shudder, but it had to be done. “You know how to use magic better than I do so you might help me out by using it in my body.”

 

Asgore could see the logic behind her idea. Since he had more experience with magic, he might be able to get her body to adjust to it and get it under control. Still, he couldn’t help hesitating about doing this again.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Frisk slowly nodded. “C’mon, do it.”

 

Grimacing slightly, Asgore moved closer to the child and disappeared into her. Frisk then felt her mind shut down immediately and her body fell limp on the floor.

 

Moments later, Asgore grunted and pulled himself up. Shaking the grogginess away, he looked down at himself to see he was back in the child’s body. He flexed his fingers briefly for a moment before sighing ad deciding to get this over with quickly.

 

Holding his hand out, he tried commanding the flames into his palm. For a while nothing happened and he could feel a lot of resistance in his soul.

 

Face scrunching up, he grabbed a hold of his right arm and focused as hard as he could on summoning the flames. Finally, a small ball of red flames appeared over his hand. It wasn’t the size he wanted, but it was a start.

 

Smiling a little, he dismissed the ball of fire and repeated this process several times, feeling some of the resistance slowly disappear. Asgore found himself thinking about what the scientist told and frowned grimly.

 

Even if there was a small chance for him to get his body back, he wouldn’t accept Frisk risking her own life for his, never.

 

He stared at the fireball forming in his hand and sighed before dismissing it.

 

**\-------**

 

“Frisk, wake up!”

 

Frisk groaned and slowly opened her eyes to see Asgore staring down at her.

 

“I did what you asked me to. I think it went quite well,” He said as she sat up. Doing this a few more times should get the child’s body to fully adjust to magic.

 

“Thanks,” She replied. Whatever the king had done, it left her feeling really drained. She will have to eat something before heading out again.

 

“Frisk?” The two heard Alphys call out.

 

Frisk quickly got up and hurried with the king to the lower floor.

 

“Over here!” Alphys muttered in front the exit, holding the child’s phone in her hands.

 

Frisk made her way over the monster, but then stopped when she noticed something in the giant screen and turned to stare at it.

 

Her hair had turned entirely white. There were no traces of brown anymore.

 

She didn’t know why that unsettled her and made a shiver go down her spine, but something about it just did. She quickly tore her eyes away from the screen and hurried over to the doctor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Frisk is going to need magic for what’s going to come in future chapters.


	14. Repercussion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry for the delay, but college work kind of taken over my life and been giving me a lot of stress lately. Anyway, thanks for your continued support and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Frisk waved goodbye at the doctor before stepping out of the door and a wave of heat greeted her once more. She walked a few feet up ahead and then stopped.

 

She glanced down at her hands in wonder. Did her idea really work? She followed Asgore’s instructions from back at Waterfall and focused on summoning a fireball.

 

It took a moment before it appeared in her hands, glowing bright red. The child stare at it in awe and apprehension, goosebumps running through her at the sight. Having fire this close should have burned her hands, but she felt no pain at all…..just warmth...

 

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Asgore said, kneeling down beside her.

 

Frisk looked up at him and nodded, and for a split-second he imagined a small goat child standing there looking at the fire in his hands as if it was the greatest thing in the world.

 

His eyes misted over and he quickly looked away before the child could see it.

 

Frisk dismissed the fireball and then remembered something. She glanced over at the path where the River Person was in uncertainty. Around this time she went with Papyrus to Undyne’s house to bond with her in the previous timeline. She took out her phone and stared at it. The skeleton hadn’t called her, probably busy helping the others back in Snowdin look for their missing king.

 

And Frisk wasn’t even sure about facing the captain again considering that their fight hadn’t gone down the way it should have. Undyne hadn’t chased Frisk to Hotland and the child hadn’t give her water when she would eventually collapse at the bridge.

 

Undyne still saw Frisk as a threat to monster kind. Therefore, she can’t go anywhere near the fish woman without the risk of getting skewered.

 

Sighing, Frisk ran a hand through her white hair, not knowing what to do. Undyne had been a good friend for her despite their….rough start. She didn’t want to lose that.

 

After mulling over it for a moment, she decided that maybe it’s better to stay away from the fish woman for now. She should focus on getting to the castle first and then come back to make peace with the captain.

 

Besides, destroying the barrier and freeing her people should be enough proof that Frisk wasn’t evil, right?

 

Having her mind made up, Frisk hesitantly turned around and headed deeper into the hot canyon, solving more puzzles and jumping over vents. She forgot just how hot this part of the Underground really was and the fact that she was wearing a sweater didn’t help at all.

 

There was also pain in her head that she couldn’t figure out, but she tried to ignore it the best she can.

 

**\-------**

After getting launched into the air by a series of vents and landing on the ground, Frisk looked up ahead and grimaced at the sight of a nearby building.

 

Asgore noticed her expression and frowned. “I take it something unpleasant awaits us there?”

 

Frisk nodded wearily and stepped forward, knowing there is no escaping this.

 

Since her knowledge of the first timeline was no longer reliable, walking in the darkness filled her with apprehension. She felt on edge the entire time, fearing that at any moment something would pounce at her from the dark and take her soul away.

 

She tried her best not to think of the dark room in Waterfall and the stranger.

 

The child took another step forward only to jump back when a loud noise cut through the air. It took her a second to realize it was just her phone. She dug into her pocket and took it out.

 

“H-hey, it’s really dark in there, isn’t it? Don’t worry, I’ll h-hack into the light system and brighten it up!” The doctor said. There was sound of buttons being pressed for a moment before the lights came on and the two found themselves standing in a kitchen.

 

“Oh…..oh no,” Alphys muttered.

 

“Oh yes, darling!” Mettaton exclaimed as he appeared from behind the counter. “Welcome back, beauties, to the Underground’s premier cooking show: Cooking with a Killer Robot!”

 

Asgore gulped as the robot wheeled closer to them. “Pre-heat your ovens, because we’ve got a very special recipe for you today! A cake!” He announced excitedly. “My lovely assistant here will assist me! Give her a big hand everyone!” Pre-recorded applause sounded from within Mettaton once more as he gestured to Frisk who couldn’t help rolling her eyes.

 

“Let’s start! First, we need to gather the ingredients. We’ll need sugar, milk and, eggs. Go for it, sweetheart!” Mettaton muttered.

 

Asgore watched the child make her way to the ingredients nervously, expecting some kind of trap or something to explode at any second.

 

But none of that happened. The child gathered all the items in her arms with ease and carried them back to the counter. He sighed in relief.

 

Maybe this won’t be so bad.

 

“Perfect, great job, wonderful!” Mettaton exclaimed as he looked over the items eagerly. “We now have everything we need for the cake! Milk…sugar…eggs…oh my!” He brought his hands to his face in surprise.

 

“Wait a _magnificent_ moment! How could I forget? We’re missing the most important ingredient!” He said and one of his hands disappeared under the counter.

 

Asgore looked over the items, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. His eyes then lit up.” Oh, you’re missing flour!” He said with a smile only for it to fall when Mettaton revealed a saw that immediately shrieked to life.

 

 _“A human soul!”_ Mettaton muttered, his voice going deeper.

 

Asgore cried out and quickly backed away from the murderous robot. “Frisk, get out of here! RUN!” He urged her, but the child remained still. She looked unfazed by the approaching robot, much to his horror. “What are you doing!? Go!” He shouted frantically.

 

“It’s okay,” was all she whispered.

 

“What!?”

 

Suddenly, Alphys’ voice came. “W-wait, can’t….can’t you make a substitute in the recipe?”

 

Mettaton paused and lowered the chainsaw. “You mean a non-human ingredient? Why would I do that?”

 

“Um….what i-if someone’s…vegan?” she asked and Asgore gaped.

 

What does that even mean!?

 

But what she said seemed to work as the robot tossed the chainsaw away. “What a brilliant idea, doctor! I just have the right substitute. It’s right over there!” He said, pointing to a can on another counter.

 

Frisk walked over to fetch it, but the counter shot up into the air before she could.

 

“Oh, did I mention that our show runs on a strict schedule?” Mettaton added, looking at an invisible watch on his wrist. “If you can’t get the can in the next minute….then I guess we’ll just have to go back to our original plan!” He shrugged and waved at her.

 

“Good luck, beautiful. Better start climbing!”

 

Frisk sighed and headed over there, wanting to get this over with. Alphys was about to speak up again when Frisk pressed the button on her phone and activated the jetpack, much to her surprise.

 

Quickly the human’s feet shot off the ground and she took off into the air. She glanced back down and couldn’t help grinning at the king’s startled expression. He finally seemed to snap out of his shock and flew after her.

 

**\------**

“F-Frisk?”

 

“What is it, Alphys?” Frisk asked as they walked out of the building.

 

“H-How did you know a-about the jetpack feature in your phone?” The doctor asked hesitantly. “I-I haven’t told you about it y-yet.”

 

Frisk froze up when she realized her mistake and wanted to kick herself for forgetting. Her mind raced for a moment, trying to come up with a convincing lie. “Um….I activated it before by accident while I using my phone. Didn’t you see me?”

 

This seemed to take the doctor by surprise. “W-well no. I-I must have been not paying attention.”

 

Frisk sighed in relief and looked over sea of lava where a massive ominous structure loomed in the distance, illuminated by the fiery glow.

 

“H-hey, do you see that large b-building in the distance?” Alphys asked.

 

“Yeah,”

 

“That’s the core, the source of all power in the underground. It converts geometrical energy into magical electricity and…well, it’s really complicated.” She said sheepishly. “But th-that’s where we’re going!”

 

Frisk hummed at her words and stuffed the phone in her pocket.

 

She was about to move forward when she noticed Asgore had stopped following her. “Asgore?” She called out, but he continued looking down at the ground making her frown in concern. “What’s wrong?”

 

Asgore hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up. “Frisk, I…I just want to say….I’m sorry.”

 

Frisk blinked in surprise and then rolled her eyes. “Asgore, if this is about our fight at the barrier then I told you that I forgave you for it. You don’t have to keep apologizing for that anymore.”

 

Asgore shook his head. “No, that’s not it. I…I’m sorry you have to go through all of this….again.” He said, wincing. “You were put in danger many times since we left the Ruins and it’s partly my fault.” He said, looking down in shame.

 

Frisk found herself at a loss of words. She was then reminded of the fact that she hadn’t really explained everything about the Reset to Asgore because she didn’t know how he will react to the truth.

 

He didn’t know Frisk had set everything back by her own will.

 

The child bit her lip and looked down at her feet, not knowing what to say. “Asgore….I…”

 

 _Go on, tell him you have the power to mess with their lives and memories. Tell him you already done it before._ A voice at the back of her mind whispered and if it had a face then she could imagine it grinning widely. _I’m sure he would **love** to know that._

Frisk grimaced and shook the thought away. “Asgore, it’s okay. It’s not a big deal….besides, instead of leaving everybody trapped here we now have the chance to save them so it’s not all that bad!” She said though she couldn’t help the sting of guilt in her chest.

 

Asgore was about to speak up again, but then stopped when he saw something coming their way. “Look out!”

 

He quickly rushed over and blocked a magical attack. Frisk cried out from behind him in surprise. The two then looked up ahead to see three monsters approaching them. All of them were wearing armor and carrying weapons. Frisk didn’t recall seeing them before in the first timeline.

 

“These….these monsters are supposed to guard the city in New Home. What are they doing here!?” Asgore muttered, confused.

 

“Surrender, human!” One of them said sternly, raising his sword at her. He was a burly lizard monster.

 

Frisk looked between them nervously before deciding that facing them might not be a good idea. She turned around and quickly sprinted down the path.

 

“Come back here!” She heard him shout, but she ran faster. She screamed as the guards began launching magical attacks at her and felt fireballs fly all around her.

 

“Keep running!” Asgore muttered as he deflected one sent their way.

 

“Can’t you stop them like before?” Frisk called back.

 

Asgore nodded and turned around. He held his hand out and tried to create another firewall, but to his surprise nothing happened. Blinking, he tried to cut off their path again and again, but ended up with the same result. Why wasn’t his magic responding?

 

“I-I can’t do it!”

 

“What!?” Frisk muttered in disbelieve and yelped when an attack barely missed her shoulder.   

 

Okay, never mind. It didn’t matter. Their armor will slow them down. All she had to do was outrun them and she’ll be safe-

 

The thought was dashed in a second when she saw two figures up ahead and stopped running.

 

They were Guard01 and Guard02, standing in her way and clearly had been expecting her. Panicking, she turned around to go the other way only to see the three guardsmen had already caught up to her.

 

Frisk looked around frantically, feeling the blood drain from her face.

 

They were trapped. There was no way to escape.

 

 _But how?_ She thought. What were all these guards doing here? How did they know she was coming this way?

 

It was then the child noticed a flash of yellow and green behind a rock and got her answer.

 

 _FLOWEY_! Frisk bristled, glaring daggers at the direction of the impish flower.

 

“Like, stand right where you are!” the one with rabbit ears muttered.

 

Frisk swallowed hard, looking between the five monsters in panic. What was she supposed to do now? She had never faced this many monsters before and she knew she can’t surrender to them. They’ll take her soul if she did.  “Asgore, what do we do?” she whispered anxiously.

 

“I-I don’t know!” The king muttered, mind racing for a way out of this.

 

Frisk raised her hands to call on to her magic and then hesitated. She didn’t like the idea of using her magic to fight them, especially when she still didn’t have much experience using it. She only wanted to pass through and not hurt anybody. “L-listen, I don’t want to fight any of you,” She tried to reason with them.

 

“We have orders to capture the human and take their soul.” The lizard monster stated firmly. “It’s best for you to surrender.”

 

When Frisk showed no sign of doing that, he scowled. “Fine, you had your chance.” He turned to the others and shouted. “Attack!”

 

Immediately, all five monsters called out to their magic and summoned fiery projectiles. Without waiting, they launched them straight at the human.

 

While Frisk shrieked at the incoming assault, Asgore quickly formed a fire dome around them, shielding them from the attacks. He winced and gritted his teeth as the attacks continued raining down on them, but he held on.

 

Soon enough, the violent onslaught ended and the protection dome vanished, but the guards didn’t waste time and began sending wave after wave of attacks at her.

 

Frisk yelped, barely dodging each of their attacks. She jumped and ran out of the way, her heart pounding violently in her chest and her mind a chaotic mess. They were magical attacks coming from everywhere and she barely had enough time to catch her breath.

 

Asgore meanwhile was struggling with blocking the attacks and keeping the child safe. Dividing his attention on each monster was hard considering they were getting targeted from two different directions.

 

He turned to one attack coming their way and narrowed his eyes, focusing on blowing it up, but for some reason it took more effort than usual.

 

Frisk backed away just in time to avoid getting hit by an energy sphere, but the force of the blast was strong enough to knock her off her feet and send her tumbling on the ground roughly.

 

 _Get up, get up, get up!_ She thought frantically and quickly pulled herself in time to see the dragon guardsmen charging at her, his blade glinting in the light. She gasped and moved back, the blade almost slicing her soul. He continued slashing at her, not giving her the chance to get away and creating a small tear in her sweater.

 

She was busy dodging the monster’s attacks that she didn’t notice an incoming projectile until it was too late. It hit her soul directly and sent her crashing on her back. She lay on the ground, groaning and shuddering at the searing pain in her soul.

 

The guards didn’t give her time to recover as they charged their magic once more, ready to end this. Frisk felt her blood run cold.

 

Without hesitation, they launched their attacks at her and Frisk shielded herself in fright, willing her magic to do something, _anything!_

 

Suddenly, her hands glowed and a massive red and white fireball appeared in front of her, immense heat and power radiating off it. It shot forward and collided with their attack, causing a powerful shock wave that knocked all of them away.

 

Asgore, who was not affected by the blast thanks to his intangibility, lowered his hands and looked around to see dust clouds everywhere, but no sign of the child.

 

“Frisk? Frisk, where are you?” He called out. It wasn’t long until he spotted her lying on the ground near the edge and quickly flew over to her.

 

“Frisk, are you okay?” He asked worriedly.  

 

Frisk’s entire body was aching in pain. She grunted and reached into her inventory, taking out a Crab Apple and biting into it. She barely had the energy chew and eventually swallowed.

 

Feeling some of the pain in her body slowly subside, she pulled herself up. “I’m…alright. What happened?” She asked weakly and gasped when she saw the guards lying on the ground. _No, no, no! What have I done?_

 

She only wanted to defend herself. She didn’t mean to hurt them like this!

 

Noticing her distress, Asgore flew over and checked on his royal guardsmen. “Don’t worry, they just got knocked out.” He muttered and the child felt immediately relieved. “We need to get out of here before they wake up!”

 

Frisk nodded and mumbled a quick “sorry” at the unconscious monsters as she walked away from them. She looked behind the rock and huffed when she saw the flower was gone.

 

Shaking her head in annoyance, she hurried down the path until she reached another elevator. Panting tiredly, she glanced back and sighed when she saw she wasn’t followed. “I guess we’re safe for now,”

 

“Um…Frisk?”

 

“What?” She looked up at the king who was staring at her with wide eyes.

 

“Frisk….y-you….” He stammered and gestured at her head nervously. Frisk raised an eyebrow in confusion.

 

“What are you- ow!” She winced when she placed her hand on the side of her head and felt something pointy there. She placed both hands there and froze up. There was no mistaking what she felt.

 

_Horns!?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading I’ve have the rest of the story planned out and I think there are about four to five chapters left so we are nearing the story's climax.


	15. Evanescence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks for all the positive feedback. I appreciate all your support. This is the longest chapter in the story so far. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Heads up, there is going to be angst and feels in this chapter so be prepared.

Frisk touched both sides of her head in panic, feeling the two bumps there. Horns.

 

She was growing horns.

 

Anxiety and fear twisted in her stomach as her mind tried processing this.

 

“Frisk, p-please calm down,” Asgore stammered.

 

“How am I supposed to calm down!? I have horns!” Frisk exclaimed loudly.

 

Why was this happening? She had thought the changes would with stop with her hair, but she was wrong apparently.

 

Asgore bit his lip anxiously, mind racing for a solution. “You have to go back to Alphys’ lab and show her this. We need to make sure this isn’t doing anything bad to you.”

 

“But what if she starts asking questions? I’ll have to tell her the truth then.”

 

“I know,” Asgore groaned and ran a hand through his mane in frustration.

 

Frisk prodded the one on the left side of her head and grimaced before gazing down at her feet silently. She didn’t know what to think of this anymore. Ever since this began at the Ruins she kept ignoring these changes, always pushing them at the back of her mind simply because she didn’t want to think there was anything was wrong with her.

 

She spent days running away from the questions she really had to ask and now she can’t anymore.

 

“What’s going to happen to me?” She asked, looking up at the king, feeling lost. Asgore opened his mouth, but seemed at a loss for words. The two of them stood quietly for a minute before Frisk finally broke the silence.

 

“We have to keep going. We need to get the barrier.” She said, her resolve slowly returning.

 

Asgore’s eyes widened. “But Frisk-”

 

“It’s only thing we could do now. We can’t waste time by looking for a solution for this. Once the barrier is gone we will deal with it.” She said.

 

Asgore wanted to argue, wanted to tell her this was a terrible idea, but he couldn’t. He was just as lost as she was on how to fix whatever was happening to her and he also knew for a fact that he can’t stop her if she set her mind to it.

 

“Fine, let’s go.”

 

The child nodded and hurried into the elevator.

 

**\------**

Frisk stopped running when a familiar dark cave came into view. She knew what awaited her there and yet she couldn’t help the shiver that went down her spine. No matter how much she didn’t want to, she knew there was no other way. She had to go in.

 

Gulping, the child steeled herself and walked into the darkness. She quietly moved forward, avoiding stepping on the spiders webs on the floor. She could feel hundreds of eyes watching her.

 

“Ahuhuhu. Did you hear what they just said?”

 

She could see countless shapes moving in the shadows and crawling on the walls. She shuddered.

 

“They said that a human wearing a striped shirt will come through,” The voice in the dark spoke gleefully, but there was a dangerous edge to it. “They said that the human hates spiders, that she loves to stomp on them and pull their legs off…”

 

By now her boots were covered entirely in grey webs and her movement became slower and slower. She glanced up to finally see the spider monster sitting on a large web, hidden in shadow.

 

“They said….that this human is quite _stingy_ with her money,” Muffet said, glaring down at the human. “You think your taste is too refined for our pastries, don’t you deary? I disagree with that notion. I think your taste….is exactly what this next batch needs!”

 

Frisk grimaced at that.

 

“Don’t look so blue, my deary.” Muffet let out a loud giggle as she held two kettles in two of her hands.

 

Frisk yelped as the spider monster poured a purple liquid over her, shuddering in disgust. The goo then slowly began shaping into a strange purple web. She looked down to see her soul had turned purple too.

 

Muffet tapped her chin and grinned. “I think purple looks better on you! Ahuhuhu.”

 

Frisk grunted as she struggled to escape the web, but this only seemed to amuse the monster even more. The child gasped when spiders began descending down from the ceiling.

 

“Why so pale, deary? You should be proud. You’re going to make a delicious cake!” Muffet grinned, making Frisk stop struggling and glare up at her.

 

“Let me go!” Frisk muttered.

 

“Let you go? Don’t be silly!” she scoffed almost as if the idea was insane to her. The spiders finally made it down to the human. They were the size of melons and didn’t hesitate into lunging at her. She bent down and stumbled over the web in order to avoid them. Dodging became much harder with the sticky web beneath her feet.

 

“Your soul is going to make every spider very happy,” Muffet stated while clapping along with the other spiders.

 

Frisk felt a shiver run through her spine when a deep growl came from the dark abyss below. “Oh, how rude of me. I forgot to introduce you to my pet.”

 

All of the spiders fled, leaving Frisk alone on the pathway. The girl paled as the familiar large creature came out of the abyss climbing on the wall, black eyes flashing hungrily at her.

 

“It’s breakfast time, isn’t it? Have fun you two!” Muffet called out in a singing voice.

 

Frisk gritted her teeth impatiently. She didn’t have to for this. They needed to get to the Core now!

 

“Enough!” Frisk exclaimed, bringing her foot down. The entire pathway suddenly burst into flames, burning all of the webs away. Muffet’s pet let out a frightened shriek before going back to hiding along with the other spiders.

 

Frisk blinked in surprise at what she just did and looked up to see Muffet staring down at her speechlessly, the teacup slipping from her hand.

 

“Uh….sorry?” Frisk murmured sheepishly as she inched away before scrambling to the door.

 

**\------**

 

Frisk relaxed slightly when she reached the MMT Resort. However, the absence of a certain skeleton at the entrance didn’t go unnoticed by the child, but she quickly shook it off and went inside. The cool air was a welcomed change from the heat of Hotland.

 

Knowing what awaited her later and just to be cautious, she bought a GlamBurger and two Starfaits from Burgerpants before leaving the building.

 

The entrance to the Core was finally in sight. Frisk’s face tightened. They were almost there, they just have to reach the end of this place and they will reach Asgore’s castle.

 

Wasting no time, Frisk hurried with the king flying right beside her. The moment she was inside the odd smells that filled the facility hit her nose and made her gag slightly.

 

“Alright, ready? This is it!” Alphys said. “Take the elevator. It should lead you to the top of the Core!"

 

Frisk walked over to the elevator and pressed the button, but it didn’t work. She already knew this would happen, but she didn’t want the doctor to get even more suspicious of her.

 

“T-That’s strange. Why isn’t it working-I mean, i-it’s fine. You can get there by foot. With my guidance, it should be no problem!” Alphys assured her.

 

But things only got worse after that. The further the human ventured into the Core the more mistakes the doctor made. She gave her the wrong directions, the wrong solutions to pass certain puzzles and the child got attacked by monsters several times on the way. Despite the doctor’s attempts to sound calm, she was clearly getting more and more confused and anxious.

 

“W-what’s happening? This doesn’t look like my map at all….” Alphys muttered helplessly once they reached another path intersection. “I’m sorry...I….I got to go.”  

 

Frisk stared at her phone as the doctor hung up and sighed. Asgore floated beside her, looking concerned.

 

“Will she be okay? She sounded quite distressed.” He asked.

 

“She’ll be fine,” Frisk said as she stuffed her phone in her pocket. “Let’s go, we don’t have time to lose.” She turned around and began heading forward, gazing around at all the flashing machines in the facility.

 

_My creation…._

 

Frisk blinked and stopped walking. “Did you say something?”

 

Asgore shook his head. “No,”

 

The child was about to dismiss it as exhaustion getting to her when she noticed something odd. The walls of the corridor began twisting and changing around her. At first she thought there was something wrong with her eyes, but Asgore seemed to notice it too.

 

“What’s happening?”

 

“I don’t know,” She replied and cried out when a high pitched screech suddenly cut through the air followed by static. She covered her ears as the noise continued, coming from all directions.

 

The sound suddenly came to a stop.

 

Frowning, Frisk glanced around in confusion and stiffened. There was a dark shapeless mass forming right behind them. Her soul shuddered by just how _wrong_ that thing felt and she found herself unconsciously taking a step back away from it.

 

The thing was pitch black and seemed to absorb the light around it. It shook gelatinously for a moment before taking a shape. A person. Frisk eyes widen when she saw a familiar cracked face appear in the blackness. “Y-You again?”

 

The stranger payed her no mind and glanced around almost proudly. **_“It’s been a while since I’ve been to this place. Astonishing, isn’t it?”_** he asked while his body shook and rippled. It looked like that it was taking a lot out of him just to stand here with them. 

 

“What do you want? Why did you follow me?” She asked tensely.

 

 ** _“I’m here with an offer.”_** He said.

 

Frisk raised an eyebrow and scoffed. “And what would it be?” she muttered sharply, recalling how the monster messed with her mind and tried to steal her soul. There was no way she would accept anything from him.

 

 ** _“I know about your problem,”_** He stated and Frisk’s heart skipped a beat.

 

“W-what are you talking about?” She stammered. The smile on his face grew wider.

 

 ** _“I could sense it. There is another soul within you,”_** He said, pointing at her chest. **_“It is what causing these changes in your appearances.”_**

 

Frisk’s breathing hitched and felt cornered for a moment before huffing. “Okay, so what if I do have another soul in me? What is it to you?” She asked, hoping the panic within her wouldn’t show. She couldn’t let the monster know he got something on her or he might try to take advantage of that.

 

 ** _“I can help you, human,”_** He stated calmly. **_“I can do many things. Extracting that other soul from within you should be no problem for me.”_**

 

Frisk blinked in surprise, having not been expecting that, but she still refused to believe him. She crossed her arms and looked away. “Well, I don’t need _your_ help. Alphys can fix this!”

 

The monster scowled. **_“That fool of a scientist will never find a solution for you. As far as I have seen, she is not worthy of taking_ my _place,”_** He growled angrily.

 

“What?” Asgore muttered in confusion while Frisk glared at the monster for saying that about her friend.

 

 ** _“Think about it. I’m giving you an easy way out of this. I know you’re running out of options,”_** He said and the anger Frisk was feeling towards him instantly faded.

 

“Don’t listen to him. He might be trying to trick you.” Asgore murmured and glanced down to see the child looking at the floor, unsure. His eyes widened. “F-Frisk, you’re not honestly considering this, are you? This could all be a trap!”

 

Frisk didn’t know what to say. As much she hated to admit it, she really was running out of options and time. She and Asgore both tried various ways to get his soul out of her body, but none of them worked. Alphys sounded quite lost on the subject of absorbing souls so the chances of her finding a solution for them were slim.

 

The growing horns, the white hair, the guilt and fear of what will become of her. Frisk couldn’t take it anymore. If she accepted then they will all disappear. Everything will finally go back to the way it was. Asgore will be free. Hope will return to the kingdom when their king comes back to them and monsters will be happy once more.

 

She will finally undo her mistake.

 

The stranger smiled and held his hand out. “ ** _What do you say?”_**

 

Frisk stood there staring at his hand feeling completely torn about this. All of her sense were screaming at her to refuse, but another part of her wanted to take the chance.

 

She glanced down at her feet, recalling everything she saw on her journey and the state of the Underground was in after Asgore disappeared. The misery, the fear, the pain. She was responsible for all of it.    

 

She felt her eyes slowly droop. _It’s your fault that everyone is losing hope. Isn’t this the least you could do after everything that went wrong because of your actions?_

She slowly took one step forward followed by another, ignoring Asgore’s terrified pleas.

 

_Yes, just accept._

 

“Frisk, no!” The king exclaimed, but Frisk didn’t listen nor stop.

 

 ** _“Show me your soul,”_** The stranger said as the child stood before him. Frisk reached for her chest and summoned her soul. She then held her soul in her shaky hands before slowly holding it out for him.

 

_And it could all stop._

 

The dark monster nodded down at the child. He leaned over and reached for the small red soul, a small smile creeping across his face.

 

“Frisk, don’t do this! Think about what will happen!” Asgore cried out desperately.

 

Frisk froze up as the RESET button flashed in her mind and a spike of fear shoot through her, snapping her out of her trance.

 

No, she can’t. She wasn’t just handing over her soul, but also the powers it granted. The power to SAVE…..the power to turn back time. The entire Underground will be under the mercy of whomever gained them.

 

The stranger blinked as the child slowly stepped away from him warily. **_“What are you doing?”_** He muttered impatiently.

 

“I don’t want to go through with this anymore,” Frisk said slowly, coming back to her sense. She wasn’t going to risk putting everyone’s lives in danger just for a desperate gamble.

 

No, she knew better now.

 

The stranger scowled. “ ** _Hand over the soul!”_** He demanded, voice echoing through the corridor and startling the child.

 

Frisk shook her head frantically. Any chance of her trusting this monster was now long gone. She tensed up when two pinpricks of light began shining dangerously in his eye sockets, but then he gasped when his body began flickering. The twin lights in his eye sockets slowly faded and he looked up at her, wincing. **_“Fine, have it your way, but you’re going to r e g r e t this.”_**

 

With that, the dark figure slowly disappeared and the world around them returned to normal. Asgore sighed in relief, glad that Frisk didn’t hand over her soul.

 

“Who is he?” she asked, staring at the spot where the stranger used to be.

 

“I don’t know, but something about him feels….almost familiar to me.” He said narrowing his eyes as if he was trying to recall some long forgotten memory.

 

Frisk crossed her arms in thought. “Well, he did say that he wasn’t happy with Alphys taking his ‘place’. Does…does that mean he used to be the Royal scientist before her?”

 

Asgore frowned at that. “No, that can’t be possible. There hadn’t been a Royal scientist before Alphys,” he said, but something about that statement didn’t sound right to his ears.

 

The two stared at the empty corridor for a while before moving on again.

 

**\------**

 

After wandering through the Core for a while, Frisk finally reached the last room. She immediately frowned at the sight of Mettaton standing ahead of her.

 

“There you are, Darling! It’s time for our final showdown. It’s time to stop the ‘malfunctioning’ robot…..NOT!” He added with a laugh. “You see precious, none of this was real. It was all just a show. An act planned by Dr. Alphys.”

 

“What is he talking about?” Asgore asked her.

 

Mettaton placed his hands behind his back as he explained. “You see, she grew so attached to your adventures to the point where she wanted to insert herself into the story. She was the one who reactivated the puzzles, disabled the elevators and sent me to torment you. All so you would see her as the great person that she is not, by saving you from dangers that don’t exists.”

 

“He’s lying. Alphys would never do that.” Asgore said firmly and Frisk winced, knowing what was coming.

 

As if he could hear him too, Mettaton continued. “You don’t believe me? Well, I’ll prove it to you. Right at this moment Alphys is waiting outside of this door. She will interrupt our ‘battle’ and pretend to deactivate me so she will finally become the heroine of your adventure!”

 

“But you know what? I’m tired of this predictable charade. I’m not here to destroy humans. I’m here to entertain!” Mettaton muttered. “After all, my audience deserves a good show and what’s a good show….without a plot twist!?”

 

The door behind them suddenly snapped shut and Alphys’ startled voice could be heard from beyond it. “H-hey, w-what happened? The d-door locked itself.”

 

Asgore stared at the door in shock. All this time….every instances where he thought they were danger was actually a lie!? Why would the doctor do this?

 

Mettaton chuckled as the floor shook and flashed red beneath them. “Sorry folks, but the old show just got cancelled. We have a have a new show that will drive you wild. Real drama. Real action. Real bloodshed!” He exclaimed, voice deepening. “On our new show…. _Attack of the Killer Robot!_ ”

 

Frisk tensed up and took out her phone, pressing the yellow button. A bright light flashed from her phone’s screen and moved into her soul. It began glowing yellow and turned upward. The child grabbed it and readied herself. To her surprise though, the robot made no attempt to attack her like before and remained standing there.

 

“Aren’t you going to come at me?” She asked and was taken aback when he laughed at her.

 

“Oh, silly human. I know better than to take you on like this. I’ve seen you fight. I know just how strong you are which is why I’m going to take some….drastic measures,” He stated as his body vibrated and the lights on his front began flashing frantically.

 

A bright flash of light blinded the child for a moment. When it faded, Frisk saw Mettaton standing there, but something was different about him this time. He looked almost like his EX form, but with a more combat-oriented design.

 

His right forearm was replaced by a canon, pauldron clad his shoulders which were shaped like legs and he had energy wings on his back. The soul on his waist was pointed upward and a heart shape was engraved on his chest.

 

“What do you think, darling?” Mettaton asked with a smug grin as floodlights came to life around them.

 

“W-what is this?” Frisk asked, gazing at the robot in awe and apprehension.

 

“This is my true form, precious, the one that I’m supposed to use when exterminating humans. I never thought I would ever actually use it though.” He answered as he admired himself briefly.

 

Out of all the changes in the battles that she witnessed before, this was not one she expected. After encountering so many anomalies in this timeline, Frisk knew she shouldn’t be this shocked or afraid, but she was.

 

“Try dodging this!” The robot exclaimed as blue light exploded from his feet and he dashed towards her with a startling speed.

 

Frisk barely had the chance to move aside to avoid his kick, but he didn’t stop there and delivered another swift one immediately after missing her, knocking the child several feet back.

 

Frisk landed on the ground with a grunt, her chest throbbing. She could feel Asgore hovering over worriedly as she pulled herself up. Fortunately, the attack didn’t hurt her as much as it would have been in the first timeline.

 

Ever since she left the Ruins she noticed how she could take more damage than she used it. Her HB somehow increased. It was later that she made the connection between this and the changes happening to her. She supposed it was the only good thing that came from them.  

 

Wincing slightly, Frisk looked up just in time to see Mettaton aiming his canon in her direction and without hesitation, he began firing purple energy bullets at her.

 

Frisk remembered the fire dome that Asgore used against the guards and she quickly held hands forward, forming it around herself with some difficulty, but it still managed to shield her from the bullets.

 

“That’s a nice trick, sweetheart,” Mettaton smirked as he continued firing. The child’s hands began trembling and she could feel the dome weakening under the violent assault. “But could you handle this!?”

 

The robot charged his canon and fired an energy blast, destroying the dome and sending the child rolling on the cold floor. She grunted and struggled to pull herself up again.

 

“Frisk, he’s too strong. You have to use your magic!” Asgore urged her.

 

The sight of the fallen guards flashed in the child’s mind. “What? But I can’t-”

 

“Watch out!”

 

Frisk turned to see Mettaton charging another blast. She bit her lip and swallowed back her fear. Asgore was right, she can’t keep up like this and she knew from the previous timeline that she can’t talk the robot out of fighting her.

 

Just as he was about to fire, Frisk threw her hand forward and launched a fireball at him. It flew past his shoulder, but it caused him to miss her and the blast destroyed one of the lights instead.

 

Frisk took out a Starfait and drank it, feeling the aches in her body subside. Wasting no time, she began channeling her magic into her hands and watched the red fire appear on her fingertips.

 

Mettaton looking pleased at this. “Finally deciding to fight I see. Good, this should be fantastic for my ratings!” He leapt into the air and Frisk jumped back when he tried to crush her with his heal. Without giving her time to recover he began attacking once more.

 

Frisk gritted her teeth as she avoided his swipes and kicks, bending down when he made a roundhouse kick at her. She rolled out of the way and watched him take off into the air.

 

“Once I get your soul, I’ll use it to cross the barrier. Then thousands- no, millions of humans will watch me!” He aimed at her again and Frisk started running across the room to avoid getting hit.

 

Once she saw an opening, she clutched her fist and aimed at the robot only to be thrown back by the power behind her attack. Mettaton quickly moved out way of the blazing sphere, but the force of the blast was enough to knock him through the air.

 

“A stubborn little thing, aren’t you?” With a wave of his hand, tens of tiny robots appeared behind him. “How about we spice things up?”

 

The robots charged at the child and began spinning in circles around her, blocking any way for her to escape. Some attacked with their projectiles while others threw themselves at her. Tiny metal pieces flew everywhere with every one she destroyed.

 

Frisk’s heart was pounding violently in her chest as she tried her hardest to avoid getting hit, but that was easier said than done. It didn’t help that she felt more and more drained with every magic attack she made.

 

Asgore watched the fight helplessly from afar. He wanted to help the child, but his magic stopped working all together. _Why is this happening!?_ He thought frantically.

 

It was then that it clicked in his head. He glanced down at his hands then at the child and an idea struck him.

 

“Frisk, let me take over!” he called over the chaos around them.

 

“Right now!?” Frisk gaped.

 

“Just trust me!”

 

Frisk didn’t see any point in arguing and nodded.

 

**\--------**

 

_“Fine, go take a nap while I deal with everything like always!”_

 

Sans sighed as he sat on his seat in front of Grillby who was cleaning a glass. Those words had been echoing in his head since he left the kid in Waterfall. He didn’t get it. Why did that bother him so much? Why did it make him feel so guilty?

 

Slumping on the counter, his gaze lingered on the bottle of ketchup in front of him, but he made no attempt to drink from it.

 

Suddenly, someone came in. Everyone perked up when they saw the Dog Squad, hoping for some good news, but the tired looks on their faces instantly dashed that.

 

Papyrus walked in last and hurried over when he saw him. “hey bro, how did the search go? found anything?

 

Papyrus’ face fell a little. “WELL NOT REALLY,” He then he perked up. “BUT THAT WON’T STOP THE _GREAT_ PAPYRUS. I WILL NOT GIVE UP UNTIL MR. DREEMURR IS FOUND!”

 

“that’s the spirit, pap.” He muttered.

 

“YES, I-” Papyrus blinked and bent down to look at him in concern. “SANS, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? YOU SOUND TROUBLED.”

 

“what? nah, I just got a lot on my mind which is weird since there is nothing in here.” he answered, knocking on the side of his skull.

 

Papyrus’ face scrunched up at the pun and he looked ready to scold him, but he was cut off when the monsters in the restaurant began gathering around the TV screen hanging on the wall.

 

Papyrus hurried over to see the cause of the excited chatter among the monsters and squealed in delight. “SANS, IT’S METTATON! AND THE HUMAN IS THERE TOO……I THINK?”

 

Sans frowned and made his way over. “what do you mean ‘you think’?” he asked only to freeze up when he saw Frisk on the screen fighting the robot. However, what truly threw him off were was that the kid’s hair was all white and she had _actual horns!_

 

Mettaton’s robots were swarming around the kid while she was launching fireballs at them. He frowned when he noticed how clumsy her attacks were. She clearly didn’t have much experience using magic and was now struggling with controlling it.

 

Suddenly, to everyone’s surprise, the child fell motionless on the floor. Mettaton smirked and began approaching the unconscious human, assuming she passed out, but that turned out not to be the case as the child stood up again. Something in her posture shifted though.

 

With a single motion of her hand every robot surrounding her spontaneously combusted, much to Mettaton’s shock.

 

The robot then scowled and began firing again. While Frisk seemed to be less swift in dodging his attacks for some reason, her control over her magic was much better now.

 

 _How?_ Was the only question in his mind as he watched the fight go on in puzzlement.

 

**\--------**

 

A pack of robots rushed towards Asgore and he made slashing motion with his hand, sending a heat wave that incinerated them instantly.

 

He glanced up to see Mettaton floating above, smirking knowingly at him.

 

 _What is he smiling about?_ The realization hit him a moment too late as he turned around to see a disco ball firing a blue laser beam at him. He quickly jumped away to dodge it and that’s when Mettaton lunged towards him from the air. Asgore felt his heart skip a beat as the robot made a grab for him.

 

Suddenly, a flash of red shot across the room and striking Mettaton’s front in its way and knocking him back.

 

Asgore fell to the ground with a grunt. Rubbing his head, he looked over to the corner of room and gasped. It was his trident, stuck to the wall and glowing brightly. He then watched it slowly vanish in stunned silence.

 

Asgore yelped when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and all of his control slipped away.

 

Frisk then regained control over her body and saw Mettaton lying back, still recovering from the strike. She immediately noticed that it left his chest exposed and his soul can be seen in there.

 

This was her chance!

 

She quickly grabbed her yellow soul and fired at it, causing Mettaton’s body to explode. His head and chest were only things left of him. Frisk slowly limped over to check on him. 

 

“Look at those ratings! It’s the most I’ve ever had!” His eyes then flickered to the approaching human and smiled weakly. “Well, darling. You prove yourself to be much stronger than I thought. What are you going to do now? Finish me off?” He asked.

 

Frisk shook her head. “I never wanted to fight you in the first place.”

 

With that said, she turned around and began walking towards the elevator leaving the robot to stare at her disappearing silhouette in surprise. She heard the door open behind her and Alphys’ surprised gasp as she heard over to the robot.

Frisk slowly stepped into the elevator and sighed in relief, feeling like she could melt into the floor. _Just a little more._

 

**\-------**

The elevator finally stopped and the child stepped out of it, tired and worn out. She took a few steps forward on the pathway and then stopped, glancing down at herself. Her hands and fingers were aching from the constant use of magic. Her sweater had several tears in it and the same goes for her pants. Her boots looked pretty worn down too.

 

She then looked down at the city, watching the monsters far below blankly.

 

They finally made it. They reached New Home.

 

It felt surreal, to be here despite everything that happened, everything that went wrong on her journey. It took her a moment to finally process this. “Asgore, we did it!....Asgore?” She trailed off when she realized the king wasn’t following her. She glanced back to see him kneeling on the ground. It was then she noticed how hazy his body looked. She could barely see any of it anymore.

 

“Asgore, what’s wrong? What’s happening to you?” she asked in concern.

 

“I can’t move….my body is too weak….” He said panting. His red eyes looked duller and unfocused as his body gradually grew more transparent almost as if he’s-

 

Frisk’s blood ran cold as it finally dawned her. Asgore was disappearing!

 

No, she can’t let that happen, not after everything, not when they were so close!

 

“Asgore! Tell me what do I do? How can I help?” She quickly summoned her soul and held it out for him. “Do you need more magic? Here take as much as you need from my-”

 

The words died in her throat once she saw her soul. There was an imprint of a white upside down heart on her soul. A monster’s.

 

Her eyes widened. She hadn’t been just using Asgore’s magic, she had been……

 

Frisk swallowed back the lump in her throat and held the soul out for him. Asgore shakily placed his hand over the soul, but.....nothing happened.

 

Frisk let her soul disappear and her shoulders sagged in despair. It was clear now. There was nothing they can do, nothing at all.

 

“At….at least…we made it, right?” Asgore said with a small smile as he gazed up ahead where he could see his house at the end of the path. He felt like he was seeing it for the first time in forever.

 

She clutched her fists and screwed her eyes shut, feeling tears welling in them.

 

“Frisk…..I’m sorry….” Asgore suddenly said.

 

Frisk’s wet eyes snapped open in surprise. “W-what are you apologizing for? You’ve done nothing wrong!”

 

“Back at the cliff….I said I would get you home…back to the other humans…” He murmured weakly. “But I failed….even at that…”

 

Frisk felt her heart clutch and her eyes well up with fresh tears. She tried to grab his cape, but her hands slipped right through like always. “No! Asgore, please don’t leave yet!” _Please don’t leave me alone!_

 

“You still have my soul in you…..if all else fails…cross the barrier….be free…” He said, smiling weakly down at her.

 

“No, no!” She wailed as she continued attempting desperately to grab onto him, to get him to stay just a little longer. There was so much she wanted to tell him, so much she wanted to apologize for, but there was no time left.

 

And no one left to apologize for.

 

Frisk fell on her hands, tears running freely down her cheeks. As she sobbed alone on the pathway, she heard a faint final whisper in her ear.

 

_“Frisk….stay determined.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending of this chapter was very painful for me to write. We have finally reached the climax of this story and only three more chapters left!


	16. Nowhere to Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks for all the feedback. This chapter was pretty tough to write, but I like the way it turned out.

Undyne switched the light on as she stepped into her living room. She made her way across the room and flung herself onto the couch with a loud huff.

 

She lay there, staring at the ceiling for what felt like forever as she thought back on her fight with the human and wondering what went wrong.

 

She put her arm over her eyes and groaned. What had gotten into her? Why did she hesitate? All it would had taken was one shot.

 

One shot and all their problems would have been solved. There would had been no need to wait anymore. Their freedom would’ve been within their reach and once Asgore is found, he’d destroy the barrier and pay humanity back for the suffering they caused them.

 

 _I’m so stupid!_ She thought angrily. Years of training and waiting were wasted all because she couldn’t bring herself to take down that human. She didn’t get it. What happened back there? What was it about that look the human gave her that made her hesitate?

 

Sighing, she turned over and stared at her TV blankly. Maybe she could watch some of the stuff Alphys let her borrow to pass the time and distract her from what happened earlier today.

 

Just before she could do that, Undyne’s phone rang. She took it and raised an eyebrow when she saw it was Alphys herself.

 

“Hi, Alph!”

 

“H-hi, Undyne,” Alphys said and her voice sounded strained.

 

“Alphys, is something wrong?”

 

“I-I need you to come o-over to my lab. There is s-something I want you s-see.”

 

Undyne blinked in confusion at this and then shrugged. “Alright, I’ll be on my way!”

 

“P-please, hurry.” With that, the lizard monster hung up.

 

Undyne lowered her phone and stared at it in puzzlement, wondering what it could be that made the other monster sound so worried and tense. Not wanting to keep her waiting for too long, Undyne hopped off the couch and made her way outside, though she didn’t feel excited about the fact that she was heading to Hotland of all places again.

 

When she finally made it to the lab, she found Alphys pacing the room frantically, unaware of her presence. “Um, Alphy?”

 

The doctor squeaked and turned to face her nervously. “O-oh, you’re here. P-please follow me,” She said and shuffled over to the large screen.

 

“So….what is it that you wanted to show me?” Undyne asked, crossing her arms.

 

Alphys swallowed thickly before looking up at her. “J-just promise me you’ll s-stay calm.”

 

Undyne frowned at the odd request, but shrugged. “Sure,”

 

“Okay…okay,” Alphys exhaled and then pressed a button on the keyboard. The screen light up and Undyne bit back a groan when she saw the human on screen.

 

So much for forgetting about her failure.

 

She immediately realized that the footage was an old one since it was of the human stepping out of the Ruins and shivering from the cold. For a moment nothing happened and her brows fell a little in boredom. Just when she was about to ask Alphys why was she showing her this, the kid began talking…to herself?

 

Undyne blinked, trying to see who she was talking to, but there was nobody there in the clearing with her. What was even weirder was the fact that the kid seemed to pause for a moment after speaking as if waiting for a response.

 

Undyne scratched her head and shrugged. “Okay, so she’s a bit crazy in the head. What of it?”

 

“W-wait,” Alphys said and pressed several buttons.

 

The large screen then showed her more footages of the kid making her way through the kingdom, every monster she encountered and even talking to herself some more. The fish woman also watched as her hair gradually turned from brown to completely white and then was completely thrown off when horns appeared by the time the girl was in Hotland.

 

 _Seriously, what’s going on with that kid?_ She thought as she tried to recall if this happened in the human history films she and Alphys watched.

 

“T-this is it,” Alphys said nervously.

 

Undyne looked up at the screen to see the battle between Frisk and Mettaton. During the fight, the robot lunged at the child and made a grab for her soul, but something suddenly flew into the screen too fast for her to see it and struck him before impaling itself on the wall.

 

“What was that?” the captain asked. Alphys then zoomed on the object and Undyne felt her thoughts all come to a screeching halt.

 

She knew that weapon anywhere.

 

How could she not when she trained for years with its owner?

 

“T-That’s…Asgore’s, b-but how!?” She stuttered and turned to the doctor for answers who was looking at the ground grimly.

 

And that’s when the realization struck and Undyne’s whole body went rigid.

 

Everything suddenly made sense now. The horns, the ability to use fire magic, the trident-

 

Asgore wasn’t missing.

 

He was….was……

 

Undyne took a shaky step back and felt her head spin. _Asgore’s gone._

 

Her chest grew heavy and her soul ached at the thought. Their large kind king with the goofy smile was gone and never coming back and it’s all because of-

 

The shaking suddenly stopped and Undyne straightened up. She then turned around and began walking away silently.

 

“U-Undyne? Where a-are you going?” Alphys asked meekly.

 

But Undyne didn’t respond nor react to her voice as she stepped out of the lab and the door closed shut.

 

**\-------**

 

 Frisk was sitting against a wall, face buried in her knees. She had no idea how long she had been sitting there in silence as her mind tried to piece itself back together, but she honestly didn’t care.

 

She sniffed and whipped her eyes. A part of her told her she needed to stand up and continue, but she didn’t feel like moving forward, didn’t feel like going anywhere. Everything had come to a halt for her. She felt completely lost.

 

It was like she was back on that cliff once again.

 

Except this time no one will come to comfort her and no one will tell her that everything is going to be okay. For the first time since this journey began Frisk was truly and utterly alone.

 

Frisk blinked away her tears as an idea hit her. A Reset. She could get away from all of this. She could go back to the start, back when everything was simple and clear and he’ll be there with her-

_No._ The thought cut through her mind and crushed it, firm and unquestioning. She…she can’t do that. She can’t just erase all of this as if it was nothing because it certainly wasn’t. They had worked so hard to get here despite everything that stood in their way, despite all the doubts they had. She and…and…..

 

Frisk felt her eyes water again and she hugged her knees, her shoulder shaking weakly.

 

“Ah, what a sight to see!”

 

Frisk paused and slowly looked up to see the familiar flower smiling sweetly at her. “Go away,” she said, not in the mood to deal with him.

 

Flowey pouted. “Aww, aren’t happy to see me? It’s been _ages_ since the last time we’ve talked face to face like this!” He disappeared into the ground and popped up in front of her. “That’s a nice look on ya by the way,” he gestured with a leaf to her horns and worn out clothes. She honestly looked like a complete mess.

 

“What do you want?” Frisk asked tiredly.

 

“Nothing really. It’s just been so much fun to see you struggle your way back here again!” Flowey muttered, laughing at her expense. He was clearly enjoying this. “So now it’s time for the big question; what are you going to do now?”

 

Frisk blinked. “What?”

 

“Now that you’re finally here, where you going to go? If you head back to the surface then I’m certain the other humans will see you as a freak, but if you stick around here in the Underground then monsters will kill you, especially if they found out about what you did,” He said with a sharp grin.

 

Frisk’s heart fell. He was right. She couldn’t go back to her town like this. Everyone will be terrified of her. It was then she caught on to the last thing he said and her eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, you know?”

 

“Well, not from the beginning, but after looking around for a bit it wasn’t that hard to figure out.” The flower shrugged and then smirked at her. “But really though, how are you going to wiggle your way out of this mess? If you try to Reset then you’ll just end up like this again and _again_ , and there’s nothing you can do to change that! _Face it, you’re stuck!_ ” he exclaimed and burst into laughter.

 

Frisk scowled and glared at him. “Just what’s your problem? Why do you keep doing stuff like this?”

 

“Why?” Flowey scoffed at her. “It’s because all of this is a _game_ and I’m having so much fun playing with you!”

 

Seeing no point in beating around the bush anymore, he added. “Not to mention, _I_ once ruled this world. I was the one in control of everything, but then you came and took that from me. You also kept me from getting the human souls in the first timeline, so I thought putting all those obstacles in your way would be the perfect way to get you back for the trouble you caused me.”

 

“Y- _You!_ ” Frisk gritted her teeth and stood up, feeling the fire burning in her hand. The flower just continued grinning widely as the human stormed towards him.

 

Shaking in anger, Frisk raised her hand and then….frowned. Her anger faded and she slowly lowered her hand as she realized something in his words.

 

Flowey’s grin slowly fell and he looked at her confused. “What are you doing?”

 

“Maybe you were right about me not able to fix what happened to me and I can’t go back to the surface,” she said, gesturing to herself. “But I still have some control here. You said that you lost your powers after I fell in the Underground.”

 

“W-well, yes. What are you-”

 

“Then that means by me staying here…you’ll never get them back.”

 

Flowey opened his mouth and stiffened as the same realization crossed his mind too.

 

Having learned what she wanted, Frisk turned to walk away, but then she stopped and glanced back at the stunned flower with a smile that held no mirth. “You’re never going to win this, Flowey.”

 

Flowey’s eyes widened and his mouth hung open for a moment, unable to muster words. His body then trembled in rage and his eyes became black voids. He snarled and sent his vines at her.

 

With a single wave of her hand, Frisk burned them all away, leaving the flower with nothing. Flowey glared at her furiously before disappearing into the ground once again.

 

Frisk sighed and dismissed the flames in her hands. She looked up at the path ahead and decided it was finally time to move forward. She had to keep going. Destroying the barrier had been the reason they pushed this far and she won’t stop until it’s done, for both of them.

 

Sighing again, she began walking down the path. The resemblance between Asgore’s house and the one back at the Ruins was very jarring even now. Shaking the uneasiness away, she made her way towards the door.

 

“Stop right there.”

 

Frisk froze up and turned around to see Undyne standing not far from her. The child tensed up. “Listen, I don’t want to fight you. I’m just trying to-”

 

“Quit it,” came the sharp reply, sending a shiver down the girl’s spine. She had never heard the fish woman speak this way before, not even during her angriest moments.

 

“Stop trying to look all innocent and kind. I know what you did,” Undyne said, glaring darkly at the human. “It was you, wasn’t it?” she asked and the next thing she said sent Frisk’s world crashing down.

 

“You’re the one who killed Asgore.”

 

Frisk’s heart skipped a beat and the air left her lungs. She stared at the monster silently as her mind gone numb. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t think. Their surroundings disappeared and only the two of them remained. She wanted to speak up, to say anything, but no words left her mouth.

 

Nothing Undyne said was wrong.

 

And apparently, her silence was an enough answer for the fish woman as she gritted her sharp teeth and clutched her fists. “I knew it.”

 

Without hesitation, Undyne summoned an energy spear in her hand and launched at Frisk. The child quickly deflected it with a fire ball.

 

This time seeing her use fire magic seemed to enrage Undyne than impress her. “You little punk! How dare you use his magic!?”

 

Frisk didn’t respond and instead rushed into the house. She quickly slammed the door shut and locked it. She shakily stepped back, heart pounding violently in her chest as the captain began banging on the door.

 

Frisk didn’t waste time in hurrying to the kitchen to fetch the first key. Once she had it, she ran down the hallway to the bedroom where the second one was. Ignoring all of her surroundings, she took the key from inside the box and left the room. She was about to go unlock the chain when something caught her attention. The mirror.

 

She didn’t know why, but Frisk felt something draw her to it. She slowly made her way over there and stood in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection blankly. She didn’t know how to describe what she was seeing.

 

She looked pretty roughed up and her clothes were tattered. Her hair was ghostly white and messy. Her horns have grown in size and were arcing upwards at midpoints, but the thing that caught her off guard the most were her eyes.

 

Her usually almond brown eyes had a reddish ting to them now and the sight of them made her shiver slightly.

 

_Is it still you?_

 

The loud shouting outside snapped Frisk out of her reverie. Giving her reflection one final wary glance, she turned around and hurried.

 

**\--------**

 

“Open the door now!” Undyne growled as her fist slammed on the wood harshly, but no sound came from within the house. She growled and stopped banging on the door, seeing no point in that.

 

 _Sorry Asgore._ Undyne thought and with a single powerful kick, the door went down. She stepped forward and glanced around the house for any sign of the human before immediately noticing the broken chain.

 

 _You’re not getting away from me!_ Undyne sprinted down the staircase without a second thought. This time, the human wasn’t going to escape. She will never stop until that human paid the price for what she did, with her soul.

 

**\-------**

Frisk ran as fast as she could down the staircase knowing and scrambled through the corridor in panic. She could hear the sound of distant footsteps and tried to run faster. Her tired muscles were screaming at her to slow down, but she didn’t.

 

 _Hurry, hurry!_ She ran across the pathway until she reached the Hall of Judgement. The hallway was bathed in golden light just like she remembered it and long shadows fell against the tiles. Her memory of this place flashed in her mind.

 

_“you didn’t gain LOVE, but you gained love. does that make sense?”_

 

But the emptiness of the corridor now made her chest grow heavy, but she quickly shook it off. Panting, she forced herself to keep going forward only to cry out when a blue spear emerged from the floor and stopped in her tracks.

 

“Thought you could escape me again, huh punk?”

 

Frisk turned to see the fish monster with the same fierce look in her eyes. Gulping, she stepped back awards, raking her mind desperately for any way to delay the inevitable fight between them, but she couldn’t think of anything to say.

 

A glowing spear formed over Undyne’s shoulder, pointing directly at Frisk’s soul. “Now, prepare to-”

 

The fish woman’s body stiffened and she was flung away across the corridor. “W-what is this? What did you do!?” She growled as she attempted to stand up, but it was like an invisible force was keeping her down on the floor.

 

Frisk blinked in surprise at this and then noticed a flash of blue in the shade in the corner behind a pillar. Sans.

 

The child knew he won’t be able to keep her down forever. She mouthed the word “thanks” before turning around and rushing to the end of the hallway.

 

It wasn’t long until she made it to the throne room and felt her breath leave her for a second.

 

  _“I so badly want to say, ‘would you like a cup of tea?’”_

 

Swallowing back the lump in her throat, the child moved carefully through the garden and ran past the empty throne to the last place in the Underground, the place where all of this started.

 

She turned around the corner and then finally, the barrier came into view. The girl stood there, staring at it in apprehension and awe. She felt as if could get lost in it if she stared for too long.

 

She quickly shook her head. Now wasn’t the time for that. She had no idea how will it take before Undyne came after her.

 

But now she had another problem. How will she find the souls?

 

Before getting to New Home, Frisk had been expecting Asgore to show her where to find them, but Asgore wasn’t here anymore. This castle was huge. She had no idea where to start. She frowned and raked her mind for a solution.  

 

It was then she realized something.

 

She recalled Asgore using magic to summon the souls….and his magic is now hers to command. Maybe…maybe she could summon them too just like he did.

 

Biting her lip, she screwed her eyes shut and tried to will the souls into appearing before her.

 

Nothing happened for a while and she was gradually getting more tired and hopeless, but then _finally_ there was flicker of light and when she opened her eyes, it was to see the six glass containers lined up before her with the souls glowing faintly within them.

 

Panting but relieved, Frisk held her hands over chest and summoned her own soul. She then stepped forward in front of the barrier and held out to the barrier, ready to end of all of this and set everyone free.

 

But nothing happened.

 

“What?” Frisk gritted her teeth and tried channeling as much of her magic, hoping that would be enough to do something. “Come on, _come on!_ ”

 

Nothing.

 

The child blinked and her shoulders slowly sagged as she stared at the daunting barrier blankly. “No….”

 

It…..it didn’t work.

 

Her body began to tremble and her mouth gone dry.

 

Her plan, their last chance…..failed. Everything they worked for, everything went through to get here had been for nothing.

 

She ran over and began banging her fists against it, frustrated and desperate. She felt an immense pain shoot through them with every hit, but she didn’t stop, didn’t care. “No, no, NO!”

 

She finally gave up and slowly fell to her knees, tears filling her eyes and falling down to the floor.  “I’m sorry,” she murmured weakly.

 

It’s over. There was nothing else for her to try. _I don’t know what to do anymore…._

 

A soft light snapped her out of her bleak thoughts and she looked over to see the green soul shining faintly at her.

 

And that’s when an idea slowly came to her, a crazy one in fact, but it was the only thing left that she felt she could try now. Frisk whipped her wet eyes and stood up.

 

_Don’t be ridiculous. A human can’t absorb other human souls!_

But….she wasn’t completely human anymore. Did that rule still apply to her?

 

Frisk reached up to touch her horns and then glanced down at her red and white soul wistfully. She could hear the sound of approaching footsteps somewhere and knew she didn’t have much time left. She had to at least try.  

 

She walked over to the container and opened it.

 

_Here goes everything._

 

**\-------**

Undyne was relieved when the paralyzing force finally left her body and she quickly rushed down the hallway. The kid probably hadn’t gotten too far. She wasn’t a fast runner and the captain could always easily catch up to her.

 

When she didn’t find her in the throne room, Undyne knew the human was probably at the barrier. Wasting no time, she ran as fast as she could and turned around the corner only to stop in her tracks when a terrible, _terrible_ noise hit her.

 

It was like countless people screaming and wailing at the same time. She winced and took a step back, feeling her very being shudder. The ground itself shook beneath her feet and the sounds seemed to bounce off the walls around her.

 

The noise then finally stopped and a chilling silence fell in the hallway, followed by an ominous feeling coming from inside the barrier room. Undyne felt it in her soul. Every monster in the Underground felt it.

 

Stealing herself, she stepped into the barrier room cautiously and her eyes widened at what she saw. There, not far from her, was a creature she had never seen before kneeling on the floor.

 

They were taller than Undyne was from what she could tell and were entirely black. A cloak of shadows concealed their body. They had long white hair that covered one side of their face. A single glowing white eye was all there was in the other side.

 

They had two pairs of horns; one pointing upward while the other pointing forward. What was even more unsettling was the powerful chilling aura oozing from them. It wasn’t like anything she felt before. This was no monster or human. They were something else entirely.

 

The being seemed to be dazed and shaky as they stood up, gazing weakly around. Their glowing eye then locked on with Undyne’s and they stared at her almost curiously.

 

Countless questions swirled in Undyne’s mind, but they were all answered at the sight of the empty and broken containers next to them.  

 

“Y-you absorbed the souls!?” Undyne muttered incredulously. “Everyone’s hopes and dreams….everything Asgore worked for all these years…..DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE!?”

 

Fury Undyne had never known before filled her. Bright blue energy sparked in Undyne’s hands as dozens of spears materialized in the air around her. “DIE!” she snarled angrily and launched them all in the being’s direction, watching as blue light exploded brightly where they stood.

 

When it faded, Undyne’s seething stopped altogether when she saw the being standing there unscratched.

 

“H-how!?” she puttered.

 

The being gave out low growl at her. They slowly rose to the air and raised one of their hands. Black, red and purple energy gathered in their palm and converted into a dark sphere.

 

Without hesitation, they fired and even though Undyne leapt out of the way, the force behind the attack was enough to send her flying straight into a wall and knock her out.

 

The being remained there for a minute, staring at the fallen monster and the smoke rising from the molten tiles before disappearing from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, on the scale of 1 to 10 how disastrous do you think this will turn out for everyone?
> 
> Also, I made some more art for this fic. You can find it on my new account on Deviantart. extremelight9.deviantart.com/art/All-that-Remains-715521420


	17. Losing Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry for taking so long to update this story. I’ve been busy with my studies and exams. Not to mention finishing my other stories. Though to be honest, the more time I spend on a chapter the better written it usually be.
> 
> Also, in my free time I made more art for this fic for Horned Frisk and Eldritch Frisk. Here’s the link for my deviantart account. https://extremelight9.deviantart.com/
> 
> Heads up, lots of destruction and angst in this chapter. Also, Frisk will be referred to as “she” by the monsters who know her, but from the main POV she will be referred to as “they” due to her amalgamate-ish state. I wanted to clear this up in case there is any confusion. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“See you later and be careful while you train next time!” the Nice Cream Guy called out as the group of Royal Guards walked away, having bought all the cones he had to heal themselves.

 

Admitting that they failed to capture the human and that she was still running free in the kingdom was not the best course of action, especially to a citizen so they lied about going too far with their training.

 

“So, like, what are you going to tell Undyne? She’s not going to be happy about us losing to the human,” Guard01 muttered nervously and the other four monsters shared the same thought.

 

“Let’s just focus on getting back to the castle first,” one guard with horns replied without slowing down.

 

After several minutes they made it to New Home, but they were taken aback by the sound of cries somewhere. Wasting no time, they hurried over into the city to investigate and saw monsters running away in fear.

 

“What’s going on here?” the lizard guardsmen quickly halted a madjick. “What are you running from?”

 

The shaken monster could only point up ahead before scrambling away with the others. Confused, the guards rushed through the fleeing crowds to see a strange creature standing in front of the staircase to Asgore’s castle.

 

They were quite tall and their entire body was pitch black. Their long white hair was being blown by the breeze.

 

“Hey, you there!” the lizard guard called out. “Who are you?”

 

The being glanced at them with their glowing white eye and the guards were immediately hit with the terrible feeling oozing from the creature. Something about them just felt so _wrong_. It was almost suffocating.

 

The being’s eye widened a fraction and low rumble came from within them as they began walking towards the guards.

 

The five monsters shifted uneasily under their gaze. “S-stop! This is an order!” he growled, but they didn’t. “I warned you!”

 

The guardsmen launched his spear at the creature, but, to their shock, the being swiftly caught it and they all watched as darkness consumed the weapon before turning it to dust.

 

The being then gathered black and purple energy in their hand and fired.

 

**\--------**

 

Toriel ran through the castle as fast as she could, hoping she wasn’t too late. She found the throne room empty and panicked. Hurrying past the throne, she took a right turn to the barrier room and immediately gasped.

 

The barrier room was a wreck. The walls were cracked, shattered pieces of glass scattered everywhere and there was a spot in the room where the tiles somehow got melted.

 

She took a careful step forward and gazed around, looking for anything that would give her an idea on what transpired here. Her eyes then fell on an unconscious monster lying in the rubble.

 

“Oh no!” she hurried over to check on her and began healing her. “Are you okay?”

 

Wincing in pain, Undyne slowly woke up and gazed around dizzily before her eyes found Toriel’s face. “As…Asgore?”

 

Toriel grimaced. “No, I’m Toriel.”

 

Undyne’s face scrunched up briefly and then her eyes widened in realization. “Wait….you’re…you’re the former queen! What are you doing here?”

 

“I’m looking for my child, Frisk. She’s a little human and-”

 

“The brat!” Undyne suddenly shot up as the memories came to her and her mind went into high alert. She looked around frantically. “Where did she go!?” she quickly sat up and began walking away.

 

Toriel frowned at this and stood up as well. “Where are you going? Do you know where Frisk is? Where is Asgore?” she asked sternly.

 

That made Undyne pause and she looked back at the goat monster uncertain. She forgot that nobody knew about what happened to the king. She looked down and sighed. “Asgore is dead.”

 

Whatever reply the former queen had vanished from her mind as she processed this. Out of all the things she had been expecting to hear, this was not one of them.

 

“The human brat killed him and absorbed his soul,” Undyne continued coldly, her fists trembling.

 

“What!?” Toriel muttered in shock and then scowled. “There has to be a mistake. Frisk would never do something like that!” she said, recalling the child who refused to fight her even when she was attacking her with fire magic.

 

Undyne scoffed. “Well, she did. She was even using his magic and summoned his weapon! Not only that. That punk stole the human souls and absorbed them too!”

 

“That’s impossible. A human can’t absorb other-”

 

Toriel was cut off by the sound of an explosion somewhere. The ground shook briefly before everything stilled again.

 

“What….what was that!?” Undyne muttered and dashed out of the room, ignoring Toriel’s calls.

 

She hurried into the throne room and looked through the closest window, her eyes widening immediately. A cloud of smoke was rising from the city and she could also hear distressed cries coming from below as well.

 

Without wasting another a second, the captain rushed to the exit door. Taking out her phone, she called the doctor. “Alphys!”

 

_“U-Undyne! I was so worried. I thought s-something bad happened to you!”_

 

“What’s going on down there?” she asked as she ran down the pathway.

 

_“S-something is attacking the city. I don’t know what it is. It’s stronger than a-anything I’ve seen!”_

Undyne gritted her teeth. So it was the brat then.

 

“That’s probably the human. She somehow found the souls and absorbed them!” she muttered over the noise.

 

_“W-what!? You mean that’s F-Frisk?”_

 

“Tell me, where is she right now?” she asked as she ran down the staircase.

 

_“S-she’s at the center of the city. I told everyone to start evacuating as soon as I saw her come out of the castle, b-but why are you-”_

 

“I’m going to stop her!” the captain muttered determinately.

 

_“W-wait, what? Undyne, you can’t fight her. I’ve scanned her power level! She’s too strong!”_

 

“Sorry, Alph,” the fish woman smiled.

 

_“Undyn-”_

 

She hung up before the doctor could finish. She then scowled and focused on getting to the center of the city, following the trail of destruction. So many houses and buildings had already been leveled to the ground while some more were being consumed by red flames.

 

She growled and ran faster, jumping over a massive hole in the ground. It wasn’t long until she finally saw them up ahead. The being was levitating in the air and launching magical attacks at everything in their sight.

 

“Captain!”

 

Undyne’s attention was averted to two guards hiding behind a destroyed building. She quickly headed over to them. “How is everything?”

 

“That thing is unapproachable! None of our attacks work on it and we can’t go anywhere near it without the risk of being blown to pieces!” one said, yelping when another explosion sounded nearby. “There is still some monsters who haven’t evacuated yet and we can’t get them to safety with that thing around.”

 

Undyne glanced from behind the wall to see the kid walking towards a building. Black wisps of magic appeared swirling around them before shooting towards the building and demolishing it in seconds.

 

“What do we do now?” the other guard asked nervously as another piercing roar shook the air.

 

Undyne bit her lip and stared at the ground for a moment before finally looking up at him. “You and the other guards will get those monsters out of here while I distract her,” she finally answered. When he looked ready to protest, she snapped. “Go, stop wasting time!”

 

“Y-yes, captain.”

 

With that, she walked out of the shelter towards the dark being. “B-be careful!” the guard muttered shakily before they left their hiding spot to help the remaining monsters.

 

“Hey, punk!” she called out, but they continued firing their attacks at their surroundings without pausing.

 

Furious, Undyne summoned a spear in her hand. “Don’t you dare ignore me!” she snarled and launched it at them, striking them in the back. The attack was enough to get them to stop what they were doing and turn to face her with an annoyed growl. The air cackled with their magic and any small objects near them began to float.

 

Undyne charged up her own magic and glared daggers at them challengingly. She can’t lose to this creature again. If she failed then the entire Underground will be doomed.

 

Suddenly, the thing vanished and appeared again in front of the fish woman, sending an energy ball at her. Undyne tried to block it with a spear, but the force behind the attack shattered her weapon and sent her staggering back.

 

She refused to let this faze her and held her ground. “You really thought you got rid of me that easily?” she asked with a smirk. “I don’t care how many souls you have. I won’t let you destroy this kingdom!” she exclaimed, sending five spears at them.

 

The being effortlessly moved out of the way of her attack at an unnatural speed, much to her frustration. Red and white fire then cloaked their arm and they sent a wave of flames towards the fish woman. 

 

Undyne gasped and leapt to the side to avoid getting scorched. The attack hit another building instead and it began burning away like the others.

 

Undyne racked her mind for a way to beat this thing. None of her attacks left even a scratch on them so far and they didn’t seem drained at all from the constant usage of their magic. They destroyed so much of the city and yet they didn’t seem exhausted the slightest!  

 

Just then, she snapped out of her thoughts when she felt the shadow of something looming over her and looked up to see large pieces of rubble hanging in the air.

 

Before the fish woman could react, the being brought it all down on her, burying her completely. With that done, they turned around and began flying away.

 

Suddenly, they felt a spike of magic somewhere and turned to see where it was coming from. Bright green light then exploded from the pile of rubble and the figure of Undyne burst out of it, except her usual attire was gone. She was now wearing a black armor with a white soul shape on her chest plate.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?” she muttered lowly. While her right eye was dark with a white iris, her left one was pulsing with energy behind her eye patch. “Do you really think you could just walk in and destroy everything we worked on for centuries? I’ll make sure you pay for everything you’ve done.”

 

As she stepped forward, the captain threw her hands to the side and bright energy flashed around them before dozens of magic spears materialized, all pointing at the dark being from every direction. “Die!”

 

In a flash, all of the magical projectiles began striking her enemy from every direction, creating a large cloud of dust. The barrage didn’t cease though. Undyne continued conjuring more and more attacks, refusing to stop until she was sure her enemy won’t be coming out of there standing.

 

Suddenly, the horned being flew out of the massive dust cloud towards Undyne and made a swipe at her. She quickly sidestepped their attack and jumped back. In mid-air, the fish woman summoned a green spear in her hand and launched it at the creature, leaving a trail of light as it cut through the air.

 

The being looked up in time to see it coming and raised their hand, destroying it with a single touch.

 

Recalling something from her training, Undyne took that moment of distraction and sprinted as fast as she could towards the monster, jumping up over their head and landing behind them. She then leapt and locked her arms around their neck with all her strength. “Got you!”  

 

As the kid struggled to get her off, a long spear formed several feet away from them, energy pulsing and cackling from it. Undyne called for and it came flying at an incredible speed towards them, striking the being directly in the chest.

 

For a moment the thing went still, but Undyne was startled when their eyes flashed brightly and a pulse of energy burst out of them, sending her flying back and landing on her side roughly.

 

Wincing, she sat up and glared up to see the tear she managed to create in their chest fix itself. Several black and red spheres formed around the being, their glowing white eye locked on her. “Why won’t you give up? Why do you want to destroy everything so badly?” she growled, but they of course didn’t respond to her and resumed charging their attack.

 

“Stop!”

 

Undyne’s head snapped to see the former queen running over towards them. “Lady, what are you doing!? Get away from here!” she called out, but the goat woman ignored her warning.

 

“No, I won’t allow this fight to go on any longer. Let me talk to her,” Toriel said firmly and then turned to face the dark entity, slowly approaching them. “Frisk?” she muttered unsure.

 

The creature made low noise, tilting their head slightly at her curiously.

 

It was almost impossible for her to believe that the being towering over her right now was the same little girl she found in the Ruins. “Frisk….it’s me. Your caretaker, Toriel,” she said as gently as possible. “Do you remember me?”

 

The being stared down at the goat woman for a moment and then their eyes widened. They let out a pained growl, much to the two’s surprise. They staggered back as they clutched their head in pain.

_“You said you will go there with me, **remember**?”_

 

Images flashed in their mind of people and faces they didn’t recognize. Random voices talking, laughing, shouting and crying at the same time.  

 

_“I don’t know what to do anymore.”_

_“C’mon, aren’t you even a bit curious?”_

_“S-she wasn’t among them. She promised me she’d come!”_

_“Two people went missing in that very mountain. I wanna find some answers!”_

_“I’m so sick of him lying to me!”_

_“What? Are you crazy? Haven’t you heard the stories? Anybody who goes there never comes back!”_

_“I know that, but…..I’m going to take the risk. I want to know what might be out there.”_

 

“Frisk, what’s wrong?” Toriel asked worriedly, stepping closer to them.

 

The being’s visible eye snapped open and glared down at the monster in front of them. While one hand remained clutching at their head, the other became coated in dark red energy.

 

“Look out!” Undyne quickly pulled Toriel away just as the being thrust their hand at her, but she didn’t have the time to move out of the way and the glowing fist slammed into her chest plate.

 

Undyne felt a searing pain course through her entire body and for a moment she felt as if she would break into a million pieces. She was flung back on the hard ground and lay there motionlessly as her black armor disappeared.

 

Toriel covered her mouth in horror and hurried over to the monster. “Are you alright?”

 

“I’m…fine,” Undyne muttered through gritted teeth as she tried to pull herself up, but couldn’t. She looked up to see the being rise up into the air and disappear, leaving the two monsters alone in the wreckage.  

 

**\--------**

 

“Hurry, this way!” Guard01 called out, gesturing to the path to the tunnels.

 

Alphys glanced up from her phone to the long line of evacuators. Muffet was riding on top of her giant pet along with hundreds of spiders. There were also Burger Pants, the Nice Cream Guy and many other monster she recognized. All of them had worried and frightened expressions on their faces as they hurried into the cavern.

 

She sighed and gazed at the distance where the sounds of explosions continued, feeling her chest tightening with worry and dread.  

 

**\--------**

 

“Alright, that should be all,” Doggo said as he watched a wolf join the groups.

 

“ _ice_ work,”

 

The dog monster sighed and turned to where he knew the short skeleton would be.

 

“Is this really the best time for your puns?” he asked, crossing his arms.

 

“hey, any time is the best time for puns. Helps you worry less,” Sans answered with a wink even though he knew the dog won’t see it.

 

Doggo rolled his eyes. How the skeleton could remain so calm at a time like this was beyond him. He then turned to the crowd and sighed again.

 

First their king went missing and now this _thing_ came out of nowhere with the intent of dusting all of them. What’s going on?  

 

Dogaressa then came over to them. “I just got an update from the doctor. The thing is currently tearing through Waterfall,” she stated.

 

“I hope they managed to evacuate in time,” Dogamy said with a worried frown.

 

“I don’t get it!” Doggo muttered, scratching the back of his neck. “Where exactly did that thing come from? Why is it attacking us?” he asked.

 

Dogaressa shook her head. “I don’t know. The doctor warns us not to confront it, but from the description she gave me it sounds….terrifying.” she answered with a shudder.

 

“We need to get everyone out of here as fast possible,” Dogamy said.

 

Sans’ eyes then drifted over to the leaving crowd. He could see the fiery head of Grillby, the two rabbit sisters among other monsters from the town and-

 

Sans blinked and turned to the dogs. “hey, where’s pap?”

 

“Wait, you mean he’s not with you?” Dogamy asked in surprise.

 

“Hey, Lesser Dog! Have you see Papyrus?” Doggo called out to their companion. After all, his job was to keep an eye out on the evacuating monsters. Surely he must have seen him if he already left.

 

Lesser Dog blinked and placed his hands over his head, trying to remember. His ears then fell and he shook his head frantically, a look of alarm on his face.

 

Sans’ eye sockets widened at this and he heard the members of the dog squad gasp behind him. Where could his brother be? And _now_ of all times?

 

“Wasn’t he with you when we were at Grillby’s?” Dogaressa asked him urgently.

 

“well, yeah, but then I had to leave for New Home. I had to…meet someone there,” he answered, racking his mind for a lead on where his brother could have gone.

 

It then struck him.

 

Sans slowly turned to stare at the bridge and the forest that lay beyond it.

 

_Oh no._

 

“i’ll go get him. don’t wait for us,” Sans said, running away.

 

“Sans, no. It’s too dangerous! That thing might show up at any second. If it finds you, you’ll be easily dusted, especially with your low HP! Stay here while one of us goes to look for him,” Dogamy said firmly.

 

“sorry, guys,” Sans said, flashing them one last grin before disappearing into one of his shortcuts.

 

He then found himself standing in the middle of the forest. “papyrus? pap!” he called out. His eye flashed blue and he began scanning the area for his brother.

 

They were running out of time. Where was he? The kid could arrive here at any minute. He had already seen what she did to Undyne back in the barrier from where he was watching.

 

“Papyrus, where are you!” he exclaimed, feeling sweat form on his skull, but only silence answered him. Wasting no time, he quickly jumped into another shortcut.

 

**\--------**

 

Papyrus was making his way down the snowy path, keeping his eye sockets open the entire time.

 

He had to find King Dreemurr. What if he was in trouble? What if he needed help from the Great Papyrus? He shouldn’t waste any more time and continue searching.  

 

Besides, everyone was unhappy when Asgore went missing and he can’t have that. This was what a great royal guard would do. He will not stop until he brought the king back!

 

With that thought in mind, he pulled out his map and checked to see what other places he hadn’t searched in yet.

 

Suddenly, he heard something. It was faint and he would have missed it if he wasn’t paying attention. It sounded like something fallen somewhere. Curious, he began looking around the area for whatever made that sound. He knew it could have been just a branch falling from a tree, but he wanted to make sure.

 

After a while, he spotted something. Footprints. At first he scratched his head in confusion, but then his face brightened. This could be his first clue! What if it was the king who left them? They seemed big enough to be his.

 

Wasting no time, Papyrus followed the footsteps until he was near the lake. It was then he saw it. In the whiteness of the snow, he spotted something black by the frozen lake. He walked out of the forest path and began approaching it, his feet sinking slightly in the snow.

 

It took him a moment until he realized it was a monster of some kind. They were standing in front of the lake and he assumed they were staring at their reflection.

 

“HELLO THERE!” He called out cheerfully, catching their attention. “I HAVEN’T SEEN A MONSTER LIKE YOU BEFORE,” he muttered as he looked them over curiously.

 

“ANYWAY, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” he said posing proudly and extended his hand to them. “IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU!”

 

The monster just stared down at him silently. Hmm, maybe they weren’t the talkative kind?

 

“SAY, I’M LOOKING FOR MR. DREEMURR. HAVE YOU SEEN HIM AROUND HERE?” he asked, looking around the area searchingly. He suddenly heard a crunching sound in the snow and turned to see the monster slowly stepping towards him, a low rumbling noise coming out of them.

 

“Oh, IS THERE SOMETHING I CAN HELP YOU WITH, FRIEND?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. They continued staring down at him without saying a word and the skeleton began to feel a little uneasy.

 

“UH….FRIEND?”

 

The monster raised their hand and brought it down, but before he could gasp in alarm he felt a hand grab him from behind and suddenly he was no longer in the forest. He was lying on the floor of a cave of some sort. It was quite dark.

 

“HUH? WHAT HAPPENED?” he muttered in confusion.

 

“Ow, get off!”

 

Alarmed, Papyrus quickly stood up to see it was the monster child he had seen many times in Snowdin. “OH, SORRY! ARE YOU HURT?”

 

“Nah, I’m fine!” Monster kid said and then his eyes lit up. “Hey, you’re Papyrus, right?”

 

“WELL, YES-”

 

“Papyrus!?”

 

It was then Papyrus realized they were not alone in the cave. They were many monsters huddled together staring at him in surprise and confusion. Walking through them, the members of the dog squad hurried over to him.

 

“How did you get here? Where were you all this time!?” Doggo scolded.

 

But the skeleton had his own questions. “WHAT’S HAPPENING? WHY IS EVERYBODY HERE?”

 

The dogs exchanged looks and turned to him with grim expressions.  

 

**\-------**

 

The being blinked at the empty space before them, confused.

 

“that was not _cool_ , pal.”

 

They looked up to see Sans standing a few feet away from them.

 

“before we begin, I have to ask. are you aware of what you’re doing?” he asked, just to be certain.

 

Their eyes flashed at him angrily and growled, pulling their hand from the snow.

 

“Oh, still mad at me _Icy_. oh well,” he shrugged and pulled out his hands out of his pocket. “now here’s the thing, kid. while I prefer not to put much effort into anything really, I can’t let you keep up what you’re doing.”

 

His eye then flashed blue again and clutched his hand, watching as a blue aura surrounded the kid. He kept his grip tight on them, preventing them from moving freely.

 

Just then, the kid took a step forward, much to his surprise.

 

“Huh?” Sans added more and more pressure on their body, but they slowly kept taking one step towards him after the other, resisting his blue magic.

 

 _How!?_ He thought as he was forced to back away when they got too close to him.

 

The kid suddenly stopped and just when he thought they finally gave in, five black tridents appeared, floating around them. They were similar to Asgore’s, but these had glowing red veins in them. They were aimed at the skeleton.

 

Just as they surged towards him, Sans let go of the kid to teleport out of the way. He appeared several feet away from them.

 

“you’re gonna have to try harder than that, bud,” he said and then noticed their gaze was not on him. He glanced back to see the black tridents change their direction and fly back to him.

 

Eye sockets widening, he quickly jumped out of the way of the first one and teleported to a tree branch when two came at him from different directions. He stood there briefly, watching as they flew to the air and surged towards him again.

 

The skeleton jumped off the branch, causing the trident to hit the tree. However, it didn’t impale it, but broke it in half instead.

 

Falling through the air, he teleported back to the ground and looked up to see the five tridents homing at him again.

 

He can’t keep this up. After all he had only one HP. One wrong move and he was done for.

 

 _Well, she left me no choice_. Sans thought. He was going to have to fight them without holding back.

 

Eye flashing a fiery blue, Sans thrusted his hand upward and a giant bone burst out of the ground, knocking two of flying tridents away. He then called for three Gaster Blasters to burn the rest.

 

“sorry kid,” He then focused all the demonic skulls on the being and commanded them to fire, the burning blue light consuming them completely.

 

Once the light of the beams faded, Sans was presented with the sight of the kid standing there still. The snow beneath their feet had melted and ground was scorched, but they didn’t seem that harmed by his attack. It seemed to have served in making them angrier and he could almost feel their violent intent in the air around.

 

 _tougher than I expected._ He thought as he eyed them warily. Just how high was their Defense? He really didn’t want to scan them and find out. _This is going to be harder than I previously thought._

 

The kid then raised both of their hands and aimed at him, gathering black, purple and red energy into a sphere. He raised an eyebrow at this. What were they thinking? He could easily teleport out of way once they launch it.

 

Sans then got his answer when he noticed the kid didn’t stop charging their attack and the sphere continued growing more and more in size. He took a step back when he sensed the power behind their attack was reaching dangerous levels.

 

And that’s when it dawned on him.

 

 _You wouldn’t._ Sweat formed on his skull once he realized what they were planning to do. They’re going to blow up the entire place.

 

He needed to get out of here now!

 

Wasting no time, Sans jumped on top of one of the Blasters. “Go!” he muttered urgently and it took off away from them immediately, maneuvering through the trees as fast as possible. He looked back and summoned several walls of bones for protection.

 

Sans then heard the sound of the kid launching the bomb. The ground and the air suddenly shook. He glanced back to see the shockwave advancing towards him, destroying everything in its way including the walls he created.  

 

Panicking, the skeleton quickly opened a shortcut and disappeared into it just before the blast reached him.

 

Meanwhile, the being remained where they stood as the wind blew their long white hair back and the explosion consumed them.

 

Sans and the Blaster slipped out of the shortcut and floated in the air for a bit. The skeleton panted, sweat dripping down his skull. He felt quite drained which shouldn’t be a surprise to him considering the amount of times he used a shortcut without resting.

 

He glanced down below to see the aftermath of the explosion. A huge part of the forest was obliterated completely. Turning away, he looked up ahead and stiffened at sight of smoke rising from the distant town.

 

Apparently, while he was busy looking for his brother, the kid had already got to Snowdin.

 

**\---------**

 

Despite being caught by the explosion, the being remained standing where they were, breathing heavily.

 

The surrounding area is mess of ripped earth and burnt trees. The once clear white snow was mixed with ash and dirt, and was melting away. They can see where the bomb exploded and the massive hole in the earth it created.

 

“Haha, impressive!”

 

They blinked at the new voice.

 

“I gotta say I wasn’t expecting it to get _this_ far, but you surpassed my expectations. You’re just so much fun, so unpredictable.”

 

They looked around, trying to see where it was coming from.

 

“But I feel that it’s time _I_ take over,”

 

Something moved at the corner of their vision and there was a flash of green and yellow before a sharp, agonizing _**pain**_ filled their chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will probably be the last of this fic. Thank you for all your support and for sticking around this far. 
> 
> Please review!


	18. To the Sunlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, this is it. Sorry this took so long. I had more ending for this fic and I wasn’t sure which one to choose. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the final chapter of All that Remains!

They felt nothing but pain.

 

Unearthly growls and shrieks filled the air as they struggled against it, but they could only feel as something tore them from within and their entire being shattered to pieces.

 

Consciousness then slowly returned.

 

She couldn’t move. It was the first thought that came to her. Her mind and body were both numb. Her limps lay on the cold floor, unmoving. She felt weak and soon became aware of the immense pain in her chest.

 

She managed to crack one eye open to see nothing but blackness surrounding her.

 

No, that wasn’t true. She wasn’t alone. Her vision soon returned fully and she could see she was surrounded by people.

 

Seven children.

 

One in particular was kneeling down beside her. She had short chocolate brown hair, much lighter in color than what Frisk used to have and paler skin. Her eyes were red and the sweater she was wearing was yellow and green.

 

Frisk’s eyes widened a little. She almost looked exactly like her.

 

The girl had an odd smile on her face. One that came across as friendly, but unsettling at the same time. She tilted her head to the side at Frisk and her smile widened before she whispered something that she couldn’t hear.

 

The darkness, the girl and the other children then vanished.

 

Blinking away the sudden light in her eyes, her eyes then adjusted to her new surroundings and she slowly realized where she was.

 

She was in the throne room.

 

The smell of flowers then hit her and she realized she was lying on Asgore’s garden to be exact. She tried with what littler strength she had to pull herself up, but she couldn’t. She looked over and saw vines keeping her pinned to the ground. They were all over her body.

 

It was then she got a look at her soul and gasped. It was cracked and no longer glowing. _What happened to it!?_

 

Deciding to focus on getting out of here first, she grunted and continued trying to break free, but neither could she get out of the vines or find the strength to move her body. She was stuck.

 

“Oh, you’re finally awake,” A new voice said, one she hadn’t heard before.

 

Glancing over to the throne, she saw someone walking into the room. He was a goat monster with dark eyes and wore a purple robe. He was smiling widely as he stood by Asgore’s throne.

 

Who was this monster? She hadn’t seen him before.

 

“Who…are you?” she asked, her voice weak and hoarse.

 

“What? You don’t recognize me?” He asked with a raised brow. “It’s me, your best friend. Asriel,”

 

Something about that name sounded familiar to Frisk and it took her a moment to remember where she heard it before. Asriel…..Wait, wasn’t that the name of Asgore and Toriel’s-

 

“I almost forgot what it’s like to have a body. I was so tired of being a flower,” he murmured wistfully as he examined his hands.

 

Frisk’s brows shoot up. “Wait…. _Flowey_?” she muttered in disbelief. “B-but…how?”

 

Asriel smiled. “Well, I guess I owe you an explanation. You see, I somehow came back as a flower due to Alphys’ foolish experiments a long time ago. With all that Determination she injected in me I gained this power….the ability to Save and Reset just like you, Chara.”

 

Frisk frowned. “That’s….that’s not my name.”

 

Something in the monster’s eyes tightened, but otherwise he ignored what she said. “In order for me to regain my true form, I needed to get more soul power. And that’s what I did. I first ripped out the souls you had in you, which honestly should have destroyed yours in the process, but you still managed to cling onto life somehow, just barely. After that, I took the souls from the rest of the Underground and became whole again!” he muttered, spreading his arms wide.

 

Frisk gasped in horror. The rest of the Underground? That means everyone is…..“H-how could you?”

 

How could he do that to his kind? His own family?

 

“Hey, it was for the best honestly, making use of all those souls. After all, you would have destroyed all of them in your little rampage,” he replied with a shrug and Frisk’s face crumbled.

 

She couldn’t recall much of what happened when she absorbed the human souls, only short glimpses of it. The one thing that she could remember with full clarity was the overwhelming feeling wrongness everywhere and the unbearable rage within her.

 

That didn’t stop her from feeling terrible though. “ I…didn’t mean….I wasn’t…”

 

“No matter. You’re here and I have control over everything again, or I will soon.” He smirked as he stood up from the throne and began walking towards her. “I still need to cease control of this timeline from you and have what’s rightfully mine.”

 

“You’re out of your mind,” Frisk grunted as she struggled with the vines.

 

Asriel smirked as purple bolts of energy charged around his fingers. “Try as you like, but you’re just delaying the inevitable,” he said, reaching for her cracked soul.

 

No, she can’t let him do this. She refused to let him have his way. With renewed resolve, she screwed her eyes shut, summoning whatever shred of power she still had left and continued struggling.

 

Suddenly, her soul pulsed and many of the cracks in her soul were fix, much to the prince’s surprise.

 

Pulling all the vines off herself, Frisk stood and glared at him. The monster’s frown then turned into a smirk.

 

“Fine, I guess you haven’t changed at all,” He muttered as he rose to the air and the world around them faded. “But you won’t last a minute against me,”

 

Looking around in confusion, Frisk saw the empty void they were in stretch on for miles and miles. She then turned to see Asriel aiming at her.

 

A white circle appeared beneath her feet while the sky above cackled. Frisk quickly moved out of the way as a colorful bolt of lightning struck the spot where she had been standing.

 

Startled, she began running around frantically as more circles appeared on the floor, barely able to dodge the assault from the sky.

 

“You know….I don’t really care about destroying this world anymore,” Asriel said suddenly. “After I take back the control over the timeline from you, I just want to reset everything.”

 

He then summoned two swords in his hands and charged towards her. Frisk quickly backed away and moved to the side to avoid his attacks, ducking to the ground when he launched a barrage of star-like projectiles at her from his blades.

 

“All your progress…everyone’s memories...I’ll bring them all back to zero! Then we can do this all over again!” he grinned.

 

“Why?” Frisk asked, but instead of answering he vanished from her sight. She felt on edge as her eyes searched for. But seriously why? What would be the point in doing starting this all over again?

 

Just then, she looked up and gaped when more star projectiles began falling from the sky, except these were massive compared to the ones from before.

 

Without a second thought, Frisk sprinted away as they exploded everywhere around her as soon they hit the ground. Panting, she looked up to see Asriel reappear, grinning smugly at her.

 

“And the best part of all this is that I know you’ll do it. You’ll come all the way here and lose to me again and again!” he stated. “Because you want a “happy” ending. Because you “love your friends”. Because you “never give up”, Chara!” he said as he called for his swords again and charged at her once more.

 

Frisk yelped and began dodging his slashes swiftly, her mind racing.

 

It’s true though. The reason why she had reset everything back then, why she went on this journey again…was because she didn’t want things to stay the way they were. She wanted to make everything better and avoid making the same mistakes she made in the first timeline.

 

Asriel chuckled. “Isn’t that delicious? Your “determination”. The power that got you this far… ** _it’s gonna be your downfall!_** ”

 

 A strange weapon appeared in the prince’s hand and began firing magic bullets at her. Frisk ran across the area as she tried to evade his attacks. One bullet managed to clip her side and she gasped in pain.

 

Asriel grinned as his weapon charged and fired a beam of energy towards Frisk, but the child rolled out of the way just in time.

 

“Now, enough messing around! It’s time to purge this timeline once and for all!” he exclaimed, tossing his weapon to the side, instantly fading away. “I dare you to survive this!”

 

The prince vanished again and a giant goat skull appeared in his place. It began to cackle, much to the child’s horror, before it opened its mouth wide and began inhaling everything like a black hole. Frisk tried her hardest to resist the pull and not get sucked into it.

 

Once it stopped and disappeared, Frisk fell to her knees, trying to catch her breath.

 

“…even after an attack like that you’re still standing in my way? Wow…..you really ARE something special, Chara.”

 

“That’s not my name!” Frisk snapped through ragged breaths.

 

Asriel shook his head at her in amusement, but maintaining his smile. “But don’t get cocky. Up until now, I’ve been only using a fraction of my REAL power. Let’s see what good your “Determination” is _against this!_ ” 

 

A bright flash of light blinded Frisk briefly. When she looked up again, she gasped and had to take a step back at the massive winged creature looming over her.

 

The giant beast’s laughter shook the air as he looked down at her with an amused grin. Colorful light glowed in his hand before shooting towards the human in the form of projectiles.

 

Frisk tried to move, but her legs wouldn’t move for some reason and she realized in horror that her feet were sinking into the blackness. She could only duck and move out of the way out of the magical barrage. One shot hit her back, causing a wave of pain to course through her already weakened body.

 

“Come one, just give up. You’re making this harder for yourself,” Asriel taunted as he fired again and again.

 

Frisk felt her vision darken after every attack and her knees shook, almost unable to support her anymore. She looked up to see the flying beast smirking before firing one more time.

 

She didn’t have the strength to dodge and the projectile hit her soul directly, shattering it in front of her eyes. Frisk felt the air leave her lungs and her mind went blank. Ever so slowly her eyes began to close and darkness consumed her vision.

 

**But it refused.**

The broken soul repaired itself and became whole again. Her eyes shot open and she at her soul in disbelief. “How?” she murmured. She was then distracted by the growl coming from the prince.

 

“Still haven’t gotten enough? Well, that’s fine. I can keep doing this all day!” Asriel said and launched another attack at the child. She tried her hardest to break free from the invisible grip that kept her stuck there, but to no avail. A fast projectile flew from her side and shattered her soul again, making Frisk cry out in pain.

**But it refused.**

 

“Don’t you see? This is getting you nowhere. Every time you lose to me, the more your friends forget about you. You grip on this reality slips more and more. Soon, you’ll meet your end in a world where no one remembers you!”

 

**But it refused**

Frisk kept struggling, feeling her resolve grow weaker with every passing second. She looked up at the glowing entity and despair began to fill her chest. By now most of her legs were entirely consumed by the darkness and she murmured weakly.

 

“Help….”

 

Just then, the prince blinked when a soft glow radiate shined from the child’s soul nearly blinding him. A light then shoot from it and hit the prince directly, causing him to cry out.

 

_“Are you okay?”_

_“What’s your name?”_

The beast clutched his chest, grimacing. “What…what’s this feeling?” he saw Frisk step closer, still glowing red and looking at him perplexed. When he saw her slowly reaching her hand out at him, he growled. “What are you doing? Stay back! I-I don’t you need you! I don’t need **anyone**!”

 

He charged his magic and launched another barrage of projectiles at her, but she managed to dodge all of them, unharmed. He began shooting fire balls at her and she braced herself, but then blinked when she realized the fireballs were moving past her. She tried reaching for one and it quickly moved away before she could touch it.

 

 _This is familiar._ She turned to the beast who had a defeated look on his face.

 

“Chara….please don’t go,” He murmured quietly. “Do you know why I keep getting in your way? Why I’m fighting you right now? It’s because you’re special,”

 

Frisk blinked, taken aback. Asriel looked down at the ground dejectedly. “I care about you so much. You’re the only one who gets me. You’re the only who’s fun to play with anymore.”

 

“I’m not ready for this to end. I’m not ready to say goodbye to someone like you again, so…so…”

 

His lips trembled and he screwed his eyes shut. “PLEASE STOP DOING THIS AND LET ME WIN JUST THIS ONCE!” he wailed and charged his hands once more.

 

Frisk shielded herself at the searing light that hit her, but she held on despite the prince’s pleas.

 

The prince’s arms fell to his side in defeat and the light surrounding Frisk faded. Her body was trembling by that point and finally collapsed. She lay on the ground, struggling to keep her eyes open. Her entire body was aching and she could barely draw her next breath. The glow in her soul was almost nonexistent.  

 

Frisk suddenly felt warmth flood her soul, healing it.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she weakly looked up to see a goat child in a green and yellow sweater standing over her, his eyes filled with tears. He soon removed his hand from her soul and backed away.

 

Frisk slowly pulled herself up and turned to him, confused for why he looked different now or why he was helping her. He whipped his wet eyes with his sleeve and gave a watery laugh. “I’ve always been a crybaby, haven’t I, Chara?”

 

Frisk frowned awkwardly. “But...I’m-”

 

“I know…you’re not actually Chara. She’s been gone for a long time,” He said and then smiled sheepishly. “What’s your name?”

 

The girl hesitated briefly before answering. “I’m Frisk.”

 

“Frisk? That’s a really nice name,” Asriel smiled and then his face fell. “Frisk, when I became a flower I couldn’t feel kindness or sympathy. I….I understand if you can never forgive me for what I’ve done. I’ve acted so strange and horrible. I’ve been hurting people for a long time. There is no excuse for what I’ve done.”

 

Frisk frowned and looked away. Yes, he did hurt her a lot and put her through so much pain as Flowey, but if he was telling the truth then she couldn’t hold it against him.

 

“It’s okay, Asriel,” Frisk replied slowly. His eyes widened in disbelief.

 

“Really? After everything I done?” Asriel muttered. “F-Frisk, you’re going to make me cry again…”

 

Frisk covered her mouth to stifle her giggle and he blushed.

 

“Still, I can’t keep these souls inside me.” He turned to her and smiled softly. “I want to make up for what I did to you and to everyone in the Underground.”

 

“What are you going to do?” Frisk asked.

 

Asriel placed his hands over his chest. “It’s time for monsters…to finally go free…” he rose to the air as the six human souls and the countless monsters soul he absorbed circled around him.

 

Frisk shielded herself as a powerful surge of energy came out of the goat child and the sound of something shattering somewhere reached her ears.

 

Once the souls faded, Asriel hovered down looking suddenly drained.

 

“What happened?” Frisk asked.

 

“I destroyed the barrier. It’s…it’s what you have been trying to do all this time, right? I did everything in my power to keep you from succeeding and keep you here. It’s the least I could do.”

 

Frisk stared at him in surprise and then smiled. “Thank you, Asriel and…I’m sure everyone appreciates it too.”

 

Asriel frowned. “But now that the souls are gone, I’ll go back to being a flower again. I won’t be able to feel anything anymore,” he murmured.

 

“What!?” Frisk muttered, horrified. “B-but there has to be something we can do to stop that, right?”

 

Asriel shook his head sadly and Frisk’s heart sank. She could see tears welling up in his eyes again and she tried to think of something to do.

 

In the end, she found herself walking over to him and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. It wasn’t much, but it was the only thing she could offer him. He stiffened in her arms for a moment before hugging back, his body beginning to glow a white light.

 

He laughed weakly. “I…I don’t want to let go,”

 

Frisk felt her eyes mist over and hugged tighter.

 

**\--------**

 

Monsters slowly stepped out of hiding to find the Underground in ruins. Cities and towns leveled to the ground. Despair and sorrow filled the air as they wandered the unrecognizable land.

 

“Frisk? Frisk!” Toriel called out as she wandered through the wreckage and smoke, coughing. Undyne was walking behind her, eyeing her surroundings cautiously.  

 

“Seriously, you still wanna see that kid after she nearly killed you?” she asked.

 

“She was not herself back there!” Toriel muttered firmly. Undyne was ready to argue that it wouldn’t have made difference if the kid was that walking abomination or not, since she was still a human, but withheld herself when she realized that if Asgore was here….then the huge old dork would be doing the same thing the lady was doing.

 

The two suddenly froze up when they saw a small figure stepping from behind the smoke and rubble. It was the same human child they remembered. Her short brown hair was a mess and her clothes had a lot of tears.

 

“Frisk!” The goat woman quickly rushed to the girl and hugged her tightly. The child stood there limply, but didn’t pull away.

 

“Alright, that’s enough. Now get out of the way,” Undyne growled, summoning a spear. “She needs to pay for what she has done!”

 

“What!? She’s just a child!” Toriel muttered, bristling.

 

The fish woman stared at her in disbelieve. “Are you serious? She destroyed most of the kingdom and attacked so many monsters!” she snapped and Frisk flinched.

 

“W-well, she wasn’t herself back then! The Frisk that I knew refused to attack me before!”

 

“Let’s say for a second that what you’re saying is true. What difference would it make? None of that would have happened if she hadn’t absorbed all those souls to make herself stronger!” she shouted, gesturing to the destruction around them.

 

“That’s not it,” Frisk murmured quietly, surprising them at having finally spoken. “I didn’t do it because I wanted the power for myself,”

 

“Then why did you do it?” Undyne spat.

 

“I wanted to destroy the barrier…that’s what everyone….what Asgore wanted before he disappeared,” Frisk said, her eyes misting over and sniffled. “I’m sorry,”

 

The captain blinked, taken aback. “S-Still, that doesn’t change the fact almost every monster in the Underground lost their homes and has nowhere to go!”

 

“Actually, there is somewhere else you can go,” she replied.

 

“What do you mean, Frisk?” Toriel asked.

 

“The barrier….it has been destroyed,” Frisk said, a weak smile on her lips.

 

**\------**

The child continued walking, glancing back every now and then to see the monster following her down the dark tunnel.

 

Soon enough, she stepped outside and soft light hit her face. She sighed as she stood there, turning to the others and feeling a tired smile pass over her lips at seeing their excited and awed expressions as they gazed at the sky for the first time in centuries, or ever for some of them.

 

“Hey, who is that?” someone suddenly asked.

 

Frisk spun around to see a tall figure standing by the cliff, a very familiar one.

 

He finally seemed to realize their presence and turned to face them, causing her breathing to hitch.

 

 

 _It can’t be._ Frisk thought, her mind going blank.

 

“K-King Asgore?” she heard someone behind her stammer.

 

At the sight of him, Toriel quickly hurried in front of Frisk and stood protectively in front of her with a scowl, but Frisk rushed from behind her and began running towards him. “W-wait, Frisk!”

 

“Asgore!” Frisk exclaimed as the monster king knelt down and picked her up. She buried her face into his shoulders, her eyes welling up with tears. She suddenly realized something and placed her hand on his muzzle in shock. “Wait…you’re actually here…..you’re not a ghost anymore!” she muttered in delight and he chuckled before putting her down on the ground.

 

He stared down at her calmly for a moment and then finally spoke up.

 

“I see we’re meeting on this cliff once again.”

 

Frisk’s eyes widened when she realized that yes, they were, and fresh tears welled up in them once more. She whipped her face with her sleeve, a wet laugh escaping her. “I guess we are…”

 

“YOUR MAJESTY! WE FOUND YOU!” Papyrus cheered as he rushed over to his side. “WHERE HAVE BEEN? WE LOOKED EVERYWHERE FOR YOU!”

 

“A-Asgore….but who....I thought you were and the kid….” Undyne stuttered as she approached him, looking completely lost and confused.

 

“It’s alright, Undyne. Everything is fine now,” he said, placing a hand over her shoulder. She stared at him unsure before nodding at him in compliance. He then turned to face the other goat monster.

 

“Hello, Toriel,”

 

The former queen looked away from him, but there was a conflicted look in her eyes.

 

He smiled sadly and then blinked when more monsters began swarming around him, looking overjoyed and relieved to see their king again. They wasted no time bombarding him with questions.

 

“Your majesty, are you alright?”

 

“Where were you all this time?”

 

Asgore laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s a long story,” he stated. One that he doubted anyone would believe if he ever told them. “But what matters is that I’m here now and there is something I want to say.”

 

He then turned to the large crowds of monsters. “Everyone, I’m here to declare the end of our war against humanity,” he said and many of them looked taken aback by this.

 

“I know we have suffered a lot, but starting another war isn’t going to fix anything. It will only lead to more deaths,” A distant look passed over his face before continuing. “I’m aware of what became of our kingdom. It’s true that it had been destroyed, but it’s not the end,” he glanced back at the valley bellow. “We will find a new home here….on the surface. I will do everything in my power to ensure that and I won’t be alone,”

 

To the child’s surprise, the king knelt down in front of her and placed his large hand behind her back. “Frisk, I know this is a lot to ask, but….will you consider becoming our ambassador?”

 

Frisk blinked in surprise at the offer and mulled over it for a moment before looking up at him with a determined look. “I accept,” she said and the crowd that had been holding its breath burst into cheers.

 

“Alright then, let’s be on our way then,” he muttered and began walking down the mountain path, followed by the rest of monster kind.

 

**\---------**

 

Frisk walked by Toriel’s side as they made their way, looking around. Some monsters were chattering excitedly to themselves, someone busy gazing at everything in awe. The goat woman looked like she had a lot of questions for the child, but withholding them for the time being.  

 

Frisk then soon saw the skeleton brothers with Papyrus talking loudly about meeting more humans. The shorter skeleton noticed her gaze and his face fell a little, something almost like guilt passing over his features before giving her a wink and grin.

 

Frisk smiled and then glanced at the other two monsters. Undyne was walking with Alphys. When she saw Frisk staring at her, her face became unreadable and she rubbed the back of her neck.

 

Frisk frowned. She knew she’ll have to repair her relationship with the fish woman somehow. _Maybe we could try hanging out again, just like before._ She thought wistfully.

 

But that memory reminded her of something important that she had to do.

 

“I’ll be going up ahead,” she told the goat monster.

 

She frowned in concern. “What’s wrong, my child?”

 

“Nothing, I just have to do something,” she flashed her a grin before dashing forward towards the front of the crowd.

 

“Asgore!” she called out and the king smiled at seeing her.

 

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

 

“I…I need to talk to you about something,” she said seriously. The king nodded and motioned for the monsters to keep on walking while he followed the child.

 

“So….what is it you want to talk about?” he asked, kneeling down in front of her.

 

Frisk stared at the ground, mouth opening and closing before she finally spoke up. “I’ve lied to you.”

 

Asgore blinked. “What do you mean?”

 

“Whenever we talked about how we went back in time, I kept saying I didn’t know how it happened….that was a lie. The truth is…..it was me who did it,” she admitted, staring down at her feet as the memory of the Reset button flashed in her mind and felt a twinge of guilt. “I’m not sure how, but when I fell down into the Underground I got this weird power. I was able to turn back time whenever I wanted. I used that to send myself back to the start of my journey so I could do everything right, but I ended up dragging you along with me and messed everything up,”

 

The truth was finally out. No more lies, no more excuses. She was tired of hiding it from him. He deserved to know. And after everything that happened, she owned him that much. She closed her eyes, ready for the inevitable.

 

“I know,”

 

“W-what!?” Frisk’s eyes snapped open and she looked up at him in surprise. “When? How?”

 

“Even though I wasn’t there with you after I disappeared, I saw everything through you. I heard what that flower said to you,” he explained.

 

“Wait…so you saw what I did to the…” she murmured and he winced, causing her face to crumble. He had watched her destroy his kingdom and attack his people. How could he not hate her for of that?

 

“Hey, don’t blame yourself for happened. It wasn’t your intention. The power of the souls was just too much for you.”

 

“But I-”

 

“Besides, if none of this happened then we wouldn’t all be here right now. This time you and I aren’t the only ones free,” he said, grinning.

 

Frisk nearly did the same, but then frowned, realizing that this wasn’t over yet, what awaited them in the town. “But what if something goes wrong…what if the other humans don’t accept you guys….what if…..” she looked down at the ground. “What if I got forced into doing another Reset again?”

 

“You won’t,”

 

Frisk huffed. “You don’t know that!”

 

“I know because you’ve already proved that to me,” Asgore muttered and she titled her head to side.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Frisk, even back when you felt like everything was against you, even when I disappeared and you were left alone, you kept moving forward. You didn’t Reset everything,” he smiled softly and ruffled her hair. “I think you’ll be alright. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for,”

 

Frisk stared at him, lost on what to say and then finally nodded.

 

“So, are you ready to join the others?” he asked, standing up.

 

“Yeah,” Frisk said and began walking away only to yelp in surprise when she felt a large pair of hand grab a hold of her and lift her up. The child then found herself seated on the shoulder of the king of monsters. When she glanced at him, he just beamed at her and she couldn’t help laughing back.

 

“Let’s go,” he said.

 

The monster and the child soon began heading the down forest path after the departing crowds, disappearing through the trees.

 

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! I can’t believe it. I started this story a years ago and it’s finally over. Thank you guys for all your support and for sticking with me this far. I’m glad so many people enjoyed my story!
> 
> Now I would like to thank everyone who left a comment for All that Remains!
> 
> CynnieD
> 
> chp2001
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> Under_taker
> 
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> 
> Until next time!


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